Trust the magic of beginnings
by WanderingScout
Summary: Viktor Krum see's how much Harry is struggling after the destruction of Voldemort and the death of Cedric Diggory at the end of the Triwizard Tournament, but no one else seems to notice. Determined to help, Viktor invites Harry to live with him and his parents and attend Durmstrang Institute. Will be slash eventually though not of the Viktor/Harry persuasion. Rating may go up later
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Viktor Krum watched as Harry tried to deal with the aftermath of the Triwizard Tournament. Transported to a graveyard with Cedric, Harry had witnessed his friend be killed before being forced to take part in a ritual that would lead to You Know Who's resurrection. Fortunately for Krum and everyone else something had gone wrong in the ritual and Voldemort had been destroyed, once and for all if you believe all the hype. His pathetic headmaster had run when he had felt his mark start to burn, Krum knew that he would no longer be welcomed back as headmaster of Durmstrang. Not that anyone would be disappointed by that fact.

Now Krum watched as Hogwarts celebrated, no one seemed to notice that Harry wasn't interested in celebrating. Harry tried to keep to himself but was constantly pulled into conversation, had food or drink shoved into hands, dragged onto the dance floor where he awkwardly stood while people danced around him, or was pulled into tight hugs that Harry tried his best to manoeuvre out of. Krum clenched his fists in anger as he saw Harry flinch away from peoples touch, though no one else seemed to get the message that Harry wanted to be left alone. Even his best friends didn't seem to notice what was going on, more wrapped up in each other than looking after their friend.

Krum grabbed a drink and walked closer to where the 14-year-old stood, surrounded by admirers and well-wishers. A look of sadness on his face that made something in Krum's heart clench. Krum had admired Harry from the moment they had met. Placed in a tournament against his will and ridiculed by almost everyone, Harry had held his head high and stayed strong. Krum didn't know many adults who could have borne up so well under such pressure.

Fudge was blathering on loudly to anyone who would listen, "Harry my boy, you will make a fine Auror one day, join the academy straight out of Hogwarts and you will be off fighting more dark wizards before you know it."

Harry looked sick at the mere thought and stuttered out, "honestly sir, I didn't do anything."

But his response fell on deaf ears. "Nonsense Harry, you defeated the most evil dark wizard we have ever known. Keep this up and you will be head Auror before you know it" Fudge exclaimed loudly.

Harry just dropped his head to the ground, not bothering to respond as everyone around him nodded at Fudge's enthusiastic words.

Krum decided it was time to intervene. He walked forward tapping Harry on the shoulder, "may I have a vord with you Harry?"

Harry looked around at Krum clearly surprised, but he nodded, nevertheless.

Krum put his hand gently on Harry's back extricating him from the swarm of sycophants and steering him out into the cool night air, Harry subconsciously moving closer into his side as they walked.

When they got outside Krum turned to Harry, his arm still resting loosely around his waist. He waved his wand casting a privacy spell around them so no one could hear their conversation, Harry raised an eyebrow at that but said nothing.

"How are you Harry?" Viktor asked.

Harry looked up green eyes meeting black, surprise clearly evident.

"No one's asked me that yet," Harry replied softly.

"Vell… I'm asking now."

Harry studied Krums face, seeing the sincerity there he answered.

"Everyone expects me to be their hero, to keep being their hero for the rest of my life. I'm so very tired of it all, I just want a chance to be myself to live the life I want to live."

"You're tired of fighting, tired of being the protector, tired of living your life by other peoples expectations," Krum queried watching the play of emotions run across Harry's face as he spoke.

Harry looked down, his bright greens darting away in embarrassment before he slowly nodded.

Krum laid a finger under Harry's chin, raising his face until their eyes met again.

"That is nothing to be embarrassed about Harry, you have been through so much, it is only natural that you would want a quieter life."

"Come back to Bulgaria with me Harry, you vould be velcome to stay vith my family and I. The school year is over, you could spend the summer with us then start your fifth year at Durmstrang. It vould be a new beginning for you Harry."

Harry gasped eyes going wide at the offer. His initial reaction was to say no, how could he leave everyone behind? But then he remembered how everyone had been treating him lately, dictating his life, making assumptions about what he wanted. Gosh, Mr and Mrs Weasley had even started making jokes about him marrying Ginny, argh as if he ever would, Harry thought frustrated. Even Sirius and Remus had been acting differently since Sirius's name had been cleared, taking every chance to bask in the spotlight. Harry was happy for them, but just not interested in doing that himself.

Krum stayed quiet, shifting restlessly while he waited, allowing Harry time to think.

Eventually Harry realised there was only one answer he wanted to give.

"Yes… yes I will leave with you."

Krum's face broke into a small grin, the likes of which Harry hadn't seen on the stern man before.

"Vonderful Harry, the Durmstrang ship leaves in 2 days, get your things together and we can move you onto the ship tomorrow."

Harry nodded, feeling the beginnings of excitement starting to stir in his chest, replacing the numbness that had taken hold over the last week.

"What about Dumbledore and everyone, they aren't going to be happy to see me go," Harry asked taking a step back from Krum and running his hands through his dark hair in agitation.

"I have an idea, if you vould be opened to it" started Krum. "I could blood adopt you, I am of legal age so it vouldn't be a problem and it vould make me your closest living relative so your custody and velfare fall to me."

"So, you would be like my dad?" Harry asked, green eyes going wide as he stared up at Krum thinking about what it would mean to have a family.

Krum let out a small chuckle, "In a sense yes, but I vas thinking something more like a big brother, if you vould like that?"

Harry nodded vigorously, "I would like that," Harry answered, entranced at the idea of having a brother. "But what about your parents, won't they mind?"

"Harry, I have already spoken to my parents and they are in complete agreement with me. I have contacted Gringotts and they will assist us vith the ritual as well as the transfer of all your assets. You gather your things and be ready to move aboard the ship tomorrow night. Do not mention this to anyone until the blood adoption is completed and we are safely away."

With a nod Harry walked back into the party excitement coursing through his body, he felt more alive than he had since he had been transported to the graveyard.

Krum turned and walked back towards Durmstrang's ship, he had much to do to prepare for Harry's departure, but first he had to write to his parents and tell them to expect a new family member to be arriving with him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to everyone who has started reading the story and is enjoying it **

**Here is Chapter 2!**

**Chapter 2**

Harry woke up the next morning and realised that if all went according to plan this would be the last morning that he would ever wake up at Hogwarts. The thought filled him with anticipation and excitement for what the future could hold, as well as a little sadness about what he was leaving behind. He pulled the curtains back from around his bed and saw that the dormitory was in fact empty. 'Perfect time to start packing,' he thought as he climbed out of bed and started getting dressed.

He pulled on a pair of Dudley's old jeans and a t-shirt and started gathering all his things that had spread throughout the dormitory over the past school year.

It took surprisingly little time for Harry to gather his things and pack them all in his trunk. That done he decided to head to the great hall for lunch, he wasn't sure when Krum would come for him but he wanted to be ready to leave at any time.

He wandered down towards the great hall but as he drew nearer, he saw crowds of people milling about, 'people obviously still hanging around after the celebration yesterday' he thought. Quickly dodging behind a portrait before anyone spotted him, he followed the passageway down towards the dungeons, where he took a sharp right and headed to the kitchens for lunch instead. It wasn't like Harry didn't want to see or talk to people, it was more that he was tired of people talking at him or over him rather than to him. Tired of people watching and judging every move he made. The whole thing was exhausting and quite a bit depressing.

Harry entered the kitchens and felt himself relaxing, house elves ran at him from everywhere offering something to eat and drink. Dobby bounded over to say hello, already carrying a plate of sandwiches and a piece of treacle tart. Harry took the plate smiling fondly at Dobby while he sat down to enjoy his quiet lunch.

After lunch Harry tried to make his way outside to enjoy some fresh air and for one last walk around the school grounds. However, he was waylaid by Ron and Hermione demanding to know where he had been all morning. Before he could even answer they dragged him off for a meeting with Fudge and Dumbledore, where they proceeded to explain that Harry was going to start extra defence training from next year so that he would be ready to join the Aurors straight out of Hogwarts. Ron would be receiving the training as well so that they could join the Aurors together. Harry found himself gritting his teeth at that but managed to bite his tongue. Only a few more hours and he would be leaving all this behind.

Upon leaving Dumbledores office, Harry found himself trailing behind Ron and Hermione as they talked excitedly about the training Ron was going to receive. They turned heading towards Gryffindor Tower, not sparing a glance for Harry as he headed out the front doors. Walking across the school grounds, Harry didn't stop until he came to a secluded part of the black lake and took a seat under the shade of a large oak tree. Harry stretched out on the soft grass, his arm behind his head as a pillow as he watched several thestrals roaming on the edge of the forest.

He couldn't lie to himself, there were parts of Hogwarts that he would miss, just not all the fickle people within it.

As he closed his eyes and started thinking about what a perfect time it was to take a nap, he heard a twig snap nearby. Quickly sitting up he looked around before spotting Krum and instantly relaxing.

A soft smile broke across Harrys face as he took in the slightly hunched figure before him.

"Hello Harry, I saw you valking and thought I vould come and make sure that you vere all ready to leave tonight?"

"Hey Krum, yep I'm all ready to go. My trunk is packed, I just have to shrink it and put it in my pocket. I was thinking I would send Hedwig down to you earlier tonight if that's ok with you?" Harry enquired, smiling at Krum as he took a seat beside Harry on the soft grass.

"Please Harry ve are to be family, call me Viktor."

Harry tried the name out on his tongue a few times "Viktor…Viktor" he said softly. It felt strange at first, but Harry knew it wouldn't take long for him to get use to it.

"That sounds like a good idea sending Hedwig down a little earlier. I vill be able to make sure she is safe and comfortable before you arrive. I vill meet you here around midnight after everyone else has gone to bed. Bring all your belongings vith you then. My father has organised for a Gringotts goblin to meet us in my room to assist with the blood adoption as vell as any financial matters."

Harry blinked, mulling over the information he had just received.

"Will… will the blood adoption hurt?" Harry asked carefully.

Krum turned to look at Harry, "Harry, if you are having second thoughts about this there is no pressure, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do." Krum said sincerely.

Harry's eyes widened in surprise, "No! God no, I really want this," Harry exclaimed. "I guess I'm just curious what the blood adoption entails, I don't actually know anything about it."

Krum nodded thoughtfully. "Essentially it is a very specific potion that has my blood added to it. You vill drink the potion and it vill render you unconscious for several hours vhile it takes effect. It has been said to be painful, but I promise to stay vith you through the vhole night."

Harry smiled shyly as that proclamation made his heart warm.

"Thank you" Harry said softly.

Krum's eyes softened as he took in the smaller teenager before him. "Also, your looks may change a little as the potion takes effect. Ve von't know exactly vhat until it's done." Krum continued.

"I'm not worried about that," Harry chuckled. "It might make it harder for people to recognise me if I look different."

"Very true," Krum said smiling at Harry.

They fell into a comfortable silence, laying back on the grass and just enjoying the others company. After a what felt like hours Harry sat up.

"I guess I better head back to the castle for dinner," Harry said with a sigh, running his hand through his already messy hair. He really didn't want to have to go back to the castle and face everyone again.

Krum stood, helping Harry to his feet.

"OK, I vill see you back here in a few hours" Krum said. He reached out and gripped Harry's shoulder before turning and walking back towards the Durmstrang ship.

Harry watched him walk away for a minute before heading back towards the castle.

Dinner had started by the time he made his way to the great hall. As soon as he entered people called to him, asking him to join them. Harry ignored them all and made his way to the Gryffindor table. He had just taken a seat when Ginny slid into the seat beside him, sitting a little to close for comfort truth be told. Harry bit back a sigh before dishing some food onto his plate and starting to eat. Ginny was talking to him but Harry just let the noise wash over him, thinking about where he would be eating dinner tomorrow night.

After dinner Harry wandered back up to Gryffindor tower, the common room was mostly empty as everyone was still at dinner. Harry decided to make it look like he was heading to bed early. He went up and climbed into bed fully clothed, pulling the blankets up under his chin and closing his curtains.

He laid there for hours, eventually hearing the other boys come up and get ready for bed. After Ron's snores filled the room and he was sure the other boys were asleep Harry crept out of bed. He pulled his invisibility cloak out of his trunk, shrunk his trunk and placed it into his pocket. Throwing the cloak over himself he cast one last look around the room before saying a soft goodbye and sneaking out of Hogwarts. Harry arrived near the black lake and spotted Krum already waiting. He walked up slowly pulling the cloak off his head and gave Krum a bright smile.

"Harry," Krum said in relief. "Let's go, the goblin is already there vaiting for us. Leave the cloak on for now."

Harry nodded, trailing behind Krum as they made their way quickly aboard Durmstrangs ship. Harry had not seen the ship this close before, it was truly magnificent. They were moving so quickly that Harry didn't have time to take in much more than beautiful wooden halls before they arrived at Krum's room. As they entered, they found a goblin sitting and waiting for them, looking impatient.

Harry and Krum took a seat opposite the goblin waiting to begin.

"Good evening, my name is Trerd." The goblin said eyeing both Harry and Krum

"I understand I am here to assist in managing Mr Potters financial interests as well as providing the potion for a blood adoption." The goblin didn't wait for a reply before continuing. "We will start with the financial aspects first."

Harry nodded, "I was thinking, if it was OK with Viktor" Harry began nervously. "That I could change my surname to Krum"

Krum looked pleasantly surprised and nodded his consent. "I vould like that Harry."

Harry smiled happily at Krum's assent.

"Excellent, we will close the extensive Potter accounts and reopen a new account under Harry Krum, transferring everything over to him," Trerd said making notes in a ledger on his lap.

"As soon as Mr Potter drinks the blood adoption potion, he will essentially become your son Mr Krum. You will become his legal guardian and his welfare will be your responsibility. I just want to impress upon you the seriousness of this undertaking and make sure that you are both in agreement before we continue" Trerd said.

Krum nodded seriously, "I understand."

Harry nodded as well, "I understand and still want to continue."

Trerd stood, pulling out a small potion vial and handing it to Krum.

"Simply add six drops of blood to the potion and it will be ready. Mr Potter should be placed somewhere comfortable before he takes the potion. It will take several hours for the potion to come into effect, though I would give it to Mr Potter soon so that the blood adoption will be finished before anyone up at the castle notices he is missing."

Trerd stood from his seat, walking over to Krum and handing him the potion. He continued on to, where he handed over several documents for Harry to sign. After he was done Trerd collected the documents, filing them away for his return to Gringotts.

"Thank you Trerd" Harry said.

The goblin inclined his head slightly to Harry, then Krum before taking his leave.

Krum turned to Harry. "This is my room Harry, you vill be staying here vith me vhile ve are travelling. I think it vould be best that no one knows you are here."

Harry nodded looking thoughtful, his green eyes travelled around the room, taking it in for the first time. It was a beautiful room, with dark wood walls and deep green carpet. A large bed took up most of the space in the room, though Harry could see a door that he assumed led to a bathroom.

"That sounds good. I would prefer it if no one knows when or how I left or where I left to. Less chance of my 'fans' finding me that way." Harry said with a roll of his eyes.

"Very vell, go to the bathroom and prepare for bed. I vill add my blood to the potion and by the time you come out ve vill be able to proceed." Krum said waving his hand to the door Harry had noticed earlier.

While Harry was getting ready for bed Krum added his blood to the potion. He watched as the potion glowed brightly, changing from black to a red colour before settling down to a deep purple.

Krum took a seat on the bed while he waited for Harry. He ran his hands up and down his thighs nervously, thinking about what was to come. He just hoped he was up to the task of being a good guardian for Harry.

Harry came out of the bathroom dressed in his striped red pyjamas and took a seat next to Krum on the bed.

"That the potion?" He asked indicating the phial held in Krum's hand.

Krum nodded handing it over. "Climb into bed and get comfortable before taking it."

Harry did as he was told, climbing into the soft bed and pulling the warm covers up. He looked up at Krum as he pulled the topper off the potion. He knew he should be feeling nervous but all he felt was a flutter of excitement. He closed his eyes pouring the potion in his mouth and swallowing. The effect was instantaneous, Harry fell back on his pillow, eyes closed and body writhing in pain.

Krum jumped up from his position at the end of the bed and ran to Harry's side. He took Harry's hand rubbing it in comfort as Harry calmed a little at the soothing touch. Krum settled onto the bed beside Harry preparing himself for a long night.


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Thank you to all the amazing readers who are liking this story, it's so nice to see and really helps to motivate my writing ****  
Please enjoy the next chapter.**

**Chapter Three**

When Harry awoke the next morning, his whole body was aching. He struggled for a moment to remember what had cause the pain when it all came flooding back. Sneaking out of Hogwarts, meeting Krum and the blood adoption. He started trying to sit up, but before he could even push the blankets down a hand was on his shoulder pushing him gently back into bed and resettling the blankets under his chin.

Harry looked to see Krum standing over him a worried expression on his face.

"Please stay in bed Harry, you have had a rough night and need to rest and let your body recuperate," Krum said smoothing the soft blankets down. "I vill go and collect breakfast for us shortly from the dining room."

Harry smiled at the caring in Krum's voice, it felt nice having someone take care of him like this.

As he got comfortable in bed again, he eyed Krum critically, taking in his furrowed brow and tense shoulders.

"What's wrong Viktor?" Harry asked with concern, trying to sit up again.

Viktor pressed his hand back to Harry's shoulder, "Harry, stop trying to get out of bed, everything is OK. It's just before I get us breakfast, I thought you may be curious to see vhat you look like now?"

Harry gasped, excitement coursing through him as a grin broke over his face, "I forgot about that!"

Viktor chuckled at Harry's excitement, some of the tension leaving his body as he summoned a mirror to him. Handing it to Harry he waited nervously for his reaction, not sure how Harry would take the changes.

Harry took the mirror, a beautiful silver thing with roses engraved around its borders. He paused for a moment taking a deep breath to calm a few nerves wriggling around his belly.  
As he raised the mirror his eyes widened in surprise. The changes were quite subtle but seemed to compliment him perfectly. His hair was still black but a little thicker, not sticking out quite so much. His skin was no longer pale but a soft golden brown like he had spent the past week relaxing at the beach. His cheek bones were more pronounced, nose and lips a little thicker. The biggest change however were his eyes. Though still a brilliant green there was now veins of black running through the green, it was quite striking. All in all, Harry was very pleased with the changes.

Harry looked up and noticed Krum watching him nervously. It took Harry a second to realise that Krum was worried he wouldn't like the changes, wouldn't like what Krum's DNA had changed in him.

Harry caught Krum's eye and smiled warmly at him, "I like the changes, I think they suit me. I mean… don't you think they suit me?" Harry asked, a note of uncertainty entering his voice as he nervously pulled on his dark hair.

Krum reached out and wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders in comfort. "It does suit you very vell, I was just vorried vhat you vould think of the changes."

Harry chuckled, "well it seems we were both worrying over nothing."

Krum smiled at that, climbing back off the warm bed and heading towards the door.

"I have varded the room so that only I may enter, just rest I vill be back soon with breakfast."

Harry nodded as Krum left the room, inwardly chuckling, 'who would've thought Viktor Krum would be such a mother hen' he thought.

It didn't take long for Krum to return with a plate piled high with food in one hand and a potion bottle in the other.

Harry, who had been slowly drifting off again in Krum's absence, his mouth started watering at the sight of the food in front of him.

Thankfully Krum relented on his must be laying down at all times command, to allow him to sit up and eat his breakfast. Krum placed the overflowing plate on the centre of the bed.  
"I vasn't sure vhat you vould like, so I just got a bit of everything" Krum explained.

"It all looks delicious" Harry said as he began piling scrambled eggs and bacon onto a piece of buttered toast. Krum watched as he started eating, once satisfied that Harry was eating happily Krum began spreading some jam onto toast for himself.

However, it only took that one piece of bacon and eggs on toast for Harry to feel full. Pushing the plate towards Krum to continue eating. Harry reclined back in the bed feeling exhausted from all that had transpired the day before.

When he had finished eating Krum waved his wand, making the leftover food and plate disappear. He then handed Harry the potion he had been holding.

"This is a pain reliving potion, I picked it up from the infirmary on my vay to breakfast. I thought it might ease some of the discomfort you are in."

Harry nodded in thanks, swallowing the potion in one go, before handing the bottle back to Krum.

"Ve vill be leaving in around 30 minutes, I haven't heard anything about them noticing your absence up at the castle, so I think ve are safe for now." Krum explained standing up and gathering some books before sitting back on the bed beside Harry.

He handed Harry a beautiful leather-bound book on the history of Durmstrang. Harry looked at the cover, running his fingers over the castle engraved there. It was different to Hogwarts but very beautiful.

"I thought you may vant to learn about the school you vill soon be attending. This book contains all sorts of information on Durmstrang and of course I vill tell you everything I know." Krum explained.

Harry nodded excitedly, opening the book and settling down to read. He was interested to see what his new school would be like.

Krum watched Harry fondly for a moment before he to opened a book, relaxing on the bed to read.

It wasn't much later that Harry felt the boat begin to move, just a slow rocking that was actually quite soothing.

"Ah, ve are on our vay, two more days and ve vill be home Harry."

Harry's whole body warmed at the word, home, he was on his way home. He hoped that wherever he was heading to was better than what he was leaving behind. He hoped that at the end of all this he would actually find a home.

Harry laid there feeling the boat rocking around him, feeling content and safe for the first time in a long time. As he laid there the gentle rocking eased him to sleep. Krum who had been watching Harry out of the corner of his eye, let a small smile pull up his mouth before returning to his book.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

A few hours later Harry began to stir from his nap. He opened his eyes, blearily looking around before realising that he was not wearing his glasses. Krum must've taken them off. He placed his glasses back on and looked over to see Krum still laying next to him reading contentedly. He watched Krum reading for a second before his bladder gave a painful twinge, causing Harry to shoot up in bed somersaulting over Krum and tripping as his feet got caught in his blankets. He managed to hobble into the bathroom to relieve himself, thankful that he was able to divert disaster he shuffled back out of the bathroom to see Krum watching him in amusement.

"Sorry" Harry said sheepishly, as Krum chuckled.

And so the rest of the day carried on in a similar fashion.

Harry was enjoying reading the book on Durmstrang Institute. There was so much he didn't know about other magical schools and communities. He felt rather sheltered before he remembered that he had seen and done quite a lot in his 14 nearly 15 years.

Harry found that Durmstrang differed from Hogwarts in the fact it only had 3 houses that you could be sorted into instead of four, though they sorted differently than Hogwarts. When Harry questioned him about the houses Krum explained that he had been placed in Atticus house, though all houses had their merits.

Harry just hoped there wasn't any house rivalries like at Hogwarts, though, he thought reasonably, with large amounts of teenagers in one place there was bound to be some kind of trouble.

The day wore on, Krum only leaving to get lunch and dinner for them. As night rolled in Harry began to feel tired again. He quietly got ready for bed, finding comfort from Krum laying next to him reading.

Krum looked over at him. "How are you feeling Harry? Do you need another pain-relieving potion before you go to sleep?"

"I'm OK thank you Viktor, just tired." Harry said warmly snuggling further into the blankets before closing his eyes.

"Goodnight Harry" Krum whispered softly.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

The next day saw Harry and Krum bonding over talk of quidditch.

"My families manor has extensive grounds Harry, so much room for you to fly, you vill love it. Most people at Durmstrang love to fly, you vill be in good company there."

"That sounds amazing Viktor, I can't wait" Harry replied wistfully, thinking of being back on his broom.

"I love to fly, even though doing it professionally has taken a little of the fun out of it for me," Krum continued.

Harry hummed in understanding; he could understand how the pressures of flying professionally could hamper your enjoyment.

Krum told Harry all about his childhood. About his parents, his father Andon who works for the Bulgarian Ministry of Magic and his mother Anna who is a healer; even about his first pet, a cat called Sooty.

Harry shared some of his own stories, Krum began angrily pacing the room when he heard about the danger Harry had been in since starting Hogwarts. 'Voldemort, a basilisk, dementors and death eaters, just to name a few! Did no one care about the boy? How could they put him in danger over and over again,' Krum thought angrily. He was just thankful that he had gotten Harry away from that place now.

Krum noticed that Harry didn't mention anything about his life before Hogwarts, he decided not to bring it up now but made a mental note to ask about it later.

They talked all day, getting to know each other as more than fellow Triwizard champions.

Harry confessed that he had quite a sweet tooth and Krum decided to make sure Harry got the chance to indulge that once they were home.

By the time night rolled in again and dinner was finished Harry was starting to feel a little restless.

"Is there any chance of a little walk, just to stretch our legs and get some fresh air?" Harry enquired turning his green eyes pleadingly towards Krum.

Krum thought about the request, it was a risk but worth it to bring Harry a little peace. Also, he himself wouldn't mind leaving the room for more than just food.

"OK, ve vill go for a valk on deck" Harry clapped his hands in excitement "BUT –" Krum interrupted holding up a finger "you have to vear your cloak the vhole time and ve vill vait until everyone else is in bed."

Harry agreed to the terms, waiting impatiently for it to get late enough for them to leave.

After a few hours Krum stuck his head out the door cocking it as he listened for any sounds. When no noise met his ears he nodded to Harry who threw on his cloak and followed out into the hall.

The walked slowly along the hall, neither making a sound. They encountered no one as they made their way through the ship and out onto the deck.

Harry sighed happily as the warm air brushed his face, he looked up watching the stars twinkling overhead.

Krum walked further onto the deck running his hand over the smooth wood railings. Harry walked up behind him, placing a hand on his elbow so that Krum knew he was there. They didn't say a word, the silence warm and comforting, as they leaned against the railing watching the world go by.


	4. Chapter 4

Early the next morning Harry was woken suddenly by an alarm sounding through their room. Both boys say up abruptly, Krum rubbed the sleep from his eye's, realisation hitting him.

"Ve're here Harry" Krum said gently.

Harry groaned softly laying back down, not quite awake enough for Krum's words to sink in.

Krum rolled his eyes as Harry settled back down into bed, leaning over to shake him gently.

"Harry, it's time to get up" Krum said a bit more firmly this time. "Ve are at Durmstrang, ve have to get off the ship soon."

Krums words finally penetrated Harry's sleep fogged brain and he sat up, blinking at Krum slowly.

"We're here?"

"Yes Harry ve're here"

Harry's excitement started to mount, they were at Durmstrang, they had actually done it!

He jumped out of bed pulling off his pyjamas and pulling on his clothes, Krum following suit.

"Relax Harry ve have time, ve vill have to vait and be one of the last ones off the ship so that you don't bump into anyone while under your cloak."

Harry thought about it, nodding though he didn't slow down his packing. Luckily for him there wasn't much to pack and he was done quickly.

They heard people walking past their cabin door, talking and joking loudly in languages Harry didn't recognise. When the voices started fading Harry and Krum shrunk their belongings placing them in their pockets. Harry threw his cloak over himself, looking down to check he was completely covered he followed Krum silently out of their room.

They followed the same path as the night before onto the deck, where there was a small group of students preparing to leave. Harry looked around early trying to catch a glimpse of his new school, however he couldn't see Durmtrangs castle anywhere.

As they walked closer to the gathered students preparing to leave many of them turned around greeting Krum with broad smiles. Harry backed away a step or two as a few clapped Krum on the back.

They silently excited the ship, Harry watched a little envious as the students were greeted by loving families, pulled into fierce hugs by their parents as they were welcomed home after nearly a year away.

Harry spotted Krum's parents at the same time as Krum, walking swiftly behind Krum as he hurried over embracing both his mother and father fondly and greeting them in Bulgarian.

They both looked very much like Viktor, dark hair, dark eyes and kind smiles.

He saw Mrs Krum's eyes dart quickly around, possibly trying to discern where Harry was located.

"Vell ve best be heading home now, come along dear," said Mrs Krum a little to loudly, obviously trying to convey to Harry what was happening.

Harry nodded even though she couldn't see him and followed the family a short distance away where Mr Krum pulled a newspaper out of his pocket and held it out to his family.

"Grab hold Harry" Krum said quietly.

'A portkey!' Harry realised stepping forward and grabbing hold of the paper, he squeezed Krum's arm gently to let him know that he was ready. With a nod to his father Mr Krum said the word to activate the portkey. Harry felt the usual tug behind his naval before he slammed into the ground in an unfamiliar room. He tried to keep his balance but like usual was thrown on his arse with the force of his arrival, his cloak flying off as he tumbled over.

Krum bent down offering him a hand up, kindly not commenting on Harry's less then graceful arrival for which Harry was grateful.

Mr & Mrs Krum stepped closer both with broad smiles on their faces.

Krum cleared his throat, "Mother, Father, this is Harry," Krum said pulling Harry a little closer.

"It is so nice to meet you Harry!" exclaimed Mrs Krum, in English just as good as her son's. "Oh Viktor, he is just gorgeous!" she gushed stepping closer and grasping Harry's hand. Harry shook her hand blushing brightly at the praise. "So adorable" she hummed.

Mr Krum stepped up next, taking Harry's hand and giving it a firm shake, "It is a pleasure to meet you Harry" Mr Krum said warmly.

"Thank you, Mr and Mrs Krum, for welcoming me into your home" Harry said somewhat formally.

"Oh, please feel free to call us Andon and Anna dear, after all ve are family now" Anna said.

Krum smiled at this giving his parents a small nod of his head.

"Viktor, vhy don't you show Harry around the manner and to his room to put his things away. Ve vill go and tell the house elves to prepare breakfast for us." Anton instructed.

Krum nodded, grasping Harry by the elbow and steering him out of the room.

Krum started walking around the manor, showing Harry each room and explaining its purpose.

Harry was awed by the sheer size of the manor, it sure put the Dursleys house to shame.

Krum explained there are seven bedrooms, a library, both formal and informal dining areas, 3 parlours, a large kitchen as well as a cellar that was used to brew potions.

The whole house had a warm and cosy feel even with it being so large. The walls were all soft brown wood, with pictures of what looked like Krum ancestors lining the walls. Many of them insisting on accompanying them on the tour flitting from frame to frame.

Harry's mouth dropped open when they walked into the formal dining room. The room was huge, with expensive looking antiques lining the walls and a table that could fit 20 in the centre. Harry was relieved to see that the informal dining room was much smaller, a fireplace in the corner and a table for six.

"This is vhere ve eat as a family" Krum explained. "The other dining room is just for large gatherings or important dinners."

Harry nodded in understanding, feeling warmed at the idea of family dinners.

Harry's eyes lit up when they entered the kitchen, imaging all the things he could cook in it. He ran his hands along the marble benches and admired the oven that looked like it could fit him inside it.

"Let me introduce you to our house elves, this is Tilly and this is Ruddy" Krum said, pointing to each house elf in turn.

The elves stopped working on breakfast and turned to bow to Harry.

"Harry is a member of our family now and should be treated as such," Krum told the elves.

The elves nodded their heads vigorously, "Tilly understand" squeaked one of the elves.

Harry knelt down, "It is a pleasure to meet you both, Tilly and Ruddy. I promise to try my best not to make too much of a mess around the place" Harry continued with a rueful grin.

Krum, Tilly and Ruddy all looked at Harry in surprise, while Harry just smiled, looking around the kitchen some more, oblivious to the stares.

"Do you mind if I come in sometimes and help you cook? I did a lot of cooking at my Aunt and Uncles house and I actually rather enjoy it." Harry asked politely, knowing that some elves wouldn't like the idea. But Ruddy and Tilly just nodded their heads, not saying a word as Harry smiled his thanks.

Krum however, was watching Harry a calculating look in his eyes but when Harry turned back around to face him the look was gone.

After leaving the kitchen Krum led Harry up a large elegant staircase leading to the second floor.

"This floor is vhere all the bedrooms are, as vell as a library and a family parlour." Krum explained.

"Mother and father's bedrooms are this vay" Krum said, gesturing with his hand to the left. "Our bedrooms are this vay" Krum continued pointing to the right "and the library and parlour are through these doors here." He finished off pointing to a set of doors in front of where they were standing.

"I vill show you to your rooms so that you can freshen up before breakfast."

Harry followed Krum down the hall until he came to a large wooden door, flowers delicately engraved into it, Harry tentatively reached out, running a hand over the engravings.

"This is your room Harry, my room is directly across the hall. If you need anything at all just come and get me, OK?"

"OK, thank you Viktor," with that Harry entered his room while Krum turned and entered his own.

Harry's mouth fell open at the sight of the room before him, 'it is so beautiful' Harry thought walking in and looking around. The room was large with a huge bed in the middle of the room that looked like it could sleep five. The walls were soft brown wood like the rest of the house and the floor was covered in a deep blue carpet. There were large glass doors that led out to a balcony that over looked large sweeping grounds. Harry took in the picturesque grounds, drawing in a deep breath of fresh air and feeling himself relax. He could definitely get use to a view like this.

He walked over to the bed, pulling his trunk out of his pocket and unshrinking it. He unpacked his few belongings then decided a shower was in order. He pulled some clean clothes out of the draws he had just placed them in and headed to the bathroom that adjoined his room.

After a nice long hot shower and a fresh change of clothes Harry felt much better from his early morning wake up call.

He wandered out into the hall and started making his way downstairs for breakfast, not really sure when he was supposed to arrive.

As he walked in the dining room, he suddenly felt self-conscious as he took in the three Krum's sitting in the elegant room in what looked like their best robes but were probably just their everyday wear.

He looked down at his faded t-shirt and jeans, that were hanging off his slim frame and blushed twisting the bottom of Dudley's old t-shirt between his fingers.

The three Krum's shared a look, concerned for their newest family member, Harry gave off a distinctly uncared for look.

Anna cleared her throat, "have a seat Harry, you must be hungry" she said kindly.

Harry nodded and edged his way closer to the table, taking the seat next to Viktor who gave him an encouraging smile.

"Help yourself to vhatever you feel like Harry" Krum said, gesturing to the variety of breakfast foods laid out on the table.

Harry took in the spread, putting a pancake and a liberal amount of syrup on his plate he started to eat. They all ate in silence for a few minutes, the three Krums conspicuously watching Harry eat, before Andon started talking.

"Vhat did you think of your room Harry?"

"It is beautiful, thank you. Although the bed looks so comfortable that I think I'm going to have trouble getting up in the morning," Harry answered with a grin, taking another small bite of his pancake.

"Every morning is a struggle" Andon chuckled. "Feel free to change anything you like, it is your room now."

Harry wasn't sure what to say to that, so he just nodded his head.

"Anna and I have taken a few days off vork vhile you get settled, so if you need anything ve are here for you. Ve also have a few things that ve need to discuss so after breakfast I thought ve could all meet in the parlour."

The other three people at the table all nodded their heads making various sounds of acknowledgement and agreement.

Tilly walked in as everyone was finishing their breakfast carrying a fresh jug of pumpkin juice, she walked around the table filling the half empty glasses.

"The pancakes are delicious by the way Tilly" Harry said, happily licking the syrup off his fork.

Tilly gave him a bright smile, "thank you Master Harry, it is a family recipe, been making them for the Krum family for generations."

"Well I feel particularly lucky that I am now a Krum and get to enjoy them as often as I want," Harry replied with a grin, before nervously looking up to see if he had overstepped his place. However, all he found was the members of his new family smiling at him happily.

After breakfast Viktor and Harry led the way up the stairs to the family parlour. The room was large, though like the rest of the house had a warm and comforting feel about it. Harry took a seat on a soft lounge beside Viktor waiting for someone to start talking, wondering if there was some kind of problem.

"Now Harry, there is just a few things ve need to discuss. Firstly, now that the blood adoption has taken place velcome to the family!" Andon said smiling warmly at Harry. "Please feel free to go anywhere in the manor, it is your home now. Ve have already started the process of enrolling you in Durmstrang Institute, you should receive your books list etc later in the summer. Durmstrang vhile different to Hogwarts is a very good school and ve hope that you vill be happy there. Ve also feel that it vould be best that no one knows exactly vhere you are for the moment. This vould give you a chance to settle in and enjoy your summer free from any other pressures. Though, please feel free to owl vhoever you vant."

Harry tensed slightly at this, "don't worry, there is no one I want to owl at the moment. After the year I've had I'm looking forward to a quiet summer."

Anna nodded thoughtfully at this, "I bet, vhat that school let you endure was just abominable!" she finished a scowl marring her face.

"Ve vill discuss more about school as it gets closer so there is just one more thing left to sort out. Your belongings at your home, I have heard that you do not get on very vell vith the people you live with, however, if you let me know your address, I can organise to pick up your things and have them brought here."

Harry looked away awkwardly at this, his eyes darting to a picture of a beautiful hippogriff on the wall as his face burned red.

"Ah… that won't be necessary" Harry muttered, still not meeting anyone's eye.

Viktor and his father shared a look.

"Honestly, it is no trouble if that's vhat your vorried about Harry" Viktor said, scanning Harry's face trying to read the emotions there.

"No, no that's not it. I umm actually don't have any belongings at my relatives house" he finished quietly.

Krum looked at him in surprise. "You have nothing at your relatives home Harry? How is that possible?"

"Well they didn't like to spend money on me, so yeah no stuff there to worry about collecting" Harry said with a shrug of his small shoulders, his hands going to fiddle with the bottom of his shirt again.

"Harry, there is more to this then you are telling us." Andon said staring at him intently. "Ve are family now, ve are here for you no matter vhat, you can trust us."

Harry looked up, meeting Andon's dark eyes and seeing only sincerity there he let out a big sigh.

"It isn't a big deal, my relatives don't like magic and so didn't like me much and they weren't shy about showing their feelings."

"Showing their feelings in vhat vay?" Anna whispered her heart clenching at the small boy before her and what might have happened to him.

Harry shrugged again, "Nothing major, just they didn't like spending money on me, even my clothes are all Dudley - my cousins - hand me downs, in case you couldn't tell" Harry said with a snort giving his to big t-shirt a tug. "They didn't feed me much, I had to do all the chores around the house and they occasionally hit me if I did anything they didn't like" Harry mumbled quickly trying to get it all out as fast as he could. He had never told anyone about his home life, and he didn't like to do so now, but they were right, they are family now and that is important.

All three of the Krum's looked at him shocked, Anna was clutching her hands tightly her eyes shining with tears. As one they took a deep breath to calm themselves before continuing.

"Harry vhat they did to you is terrible and if you ever vant to talk ve are here for you. I promise that you vill never suffer like that under my household. Ve Krum's are very protective of our family" Andon said a dangerous glint in his eye. Viktor and Anna nodding in agreement.

Viktor's face was hard his eyes flashing and Harry knew that he was upset about what Harry had said.

"Harry vould you like to go for a valk? Ve could all go and show you around our lands, I may be a little biased but they are truly spectacular," Anna said effectively breaking the tension that had formed in the room at Harry's words, not wanting the boy to feel incomfortable.

"That sounds wonderful, thank you Anna."

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPH**

In the Gryffindor fourth year boys dormitory, four boys were busy throwing the last of their belongings into their trunks, preparing for the train to leave this morning to take them back to Kings Cross Station.

"Where's Harry?" asked Neville in concern, looking around the room as he tried to remember if he had packed everything.

"No idea" said Ron. "His trunk is gone, he must've headed down to the train early."

Neville frowned in thought, when was the last time he had actually seen Harry? He could honestly say he hadn't seen him since the big celebration. 'Though, Harry hates the attention he might just be hiding out somewhere', Neville thought logically, making a mental note to look for Harry on the train.

With the last of their things packed the four boys headed out to catch a carriage to the station, all looking forward to heading home for the summer.

The train was already half full when the Gryffindor boys boarded. They made their way through the train looking for an empty compartment while Neville was also keeping an eye out for Harry, with no sign of his black-haired friend he entered a compartment with the other boys.

"Where is Harry even staying this summer?" Neville enquired.

"I think Dumbledore is still sending him to his relatives, something about death eaters still being a danger to him" Ron answered. "Though I'm sure mum will invite him over through the summer like she usually does."

With a sigh Neville let the conversation drop, Harry was probably just in a compartment somewhere on the train wanting a bit of peace and quiet after everything that had happened.

He sat down, his worry for Harry slipping away as he opened his book on magical herbs and fungi and started reading.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPH

As Vernon Dursley waited impatiently at Kings Cross Station, he became more and more irate. Where was that useless nephew of his!? He watched as family after family walked past, carrying trunks and a variety of animals, but still there was no sign of Harry. With an angry growl Vernon Dursley turned and stomped out of the station. 'He can bloody well find his own way home if he can't be on time' he thought viciously as he climbed into his car and drove away.


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own Harry Potter**

**Hey there, so I just wanted to point out that half way through when they language spell is cast on Harry, the Krum's will no longer be speaking with an accent as they are now speaking Bulgarian Harry can just understand them. I just wanted to explain in case anyone is confused why it changes throughout this chapter.**

**Warning: There is a mention of past abuse in this chapter, but it is brief and non-graphic.**

**Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who is reading and liking the story. I love seeing your reviews and that the story is being favourited and followed **

**Please enjoy this next chapter. It's a long one as I wanted to have the whole summer in one chapter.**

**Chapter 5**

As they strolled around the grounds of The Krum Manner Harry couldn't help but be impressed. Viktor had been right, there really was plenty of room to fly and Harry couldn't wait to get back on his broom again. There were rolling green hills filled with wildflowers, Harry ran his fingers over the beautiful blooms as they strolled along. They walked to the edge of a large lake, though nowhere near as big as the black lake at Hogwarts it was still impressive.

"No giant squid or mermaids here" Viktor laughed nudging Harry. "It is great for a swim vhen the veather gets hot though, perhaps ve can come back later for a dip?"

"That would be great Viktor, though I must warn you I'm not a very good swimmer," Harry replied.

"You could've fooled me, you swam very vell in the second task"

"That was mostly the gillyweed not me," Harry said with a dry chuckle.

"Vell there vill be plenty of opportunities to practice over the summer Harry" interjected Anna. "Ve all enjoy coming down for a swim in the late afternoon."

They continued walking until they came to the edge of a large forest.

"Our land edges the forest, but I vould be careful going in to far, there are all sorts of animals in there, some friendly some not so friendly" Andon explained.

Harry looked around past the outlying trees, squinting through the darkness trying to make out anything within. He could see movement but couldn't make out anything more then vague shapes. He ran his hands over the bark of the closest tree.

"It's so peaceful here," Harry said quietly.

"That it is" Viktor said just as softly, gripping Harrys shoulder gently as they continued walking.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP/p

Dinner that night was a delicious roast lamb with mint sauce, Harry thought perhaps the house elves were trying to make him feel at home by cooking such an English dish. He was proven right when for dessert Ruddy came out carrying a large treacle tart. Harry's eyes lit up at the sight, the green practically glowing and the black standing out in even sharper contrast.

Harry quickly dug in as Ruddy placed a large piece on his plate, humming as the sweetness hit his tongue.

"This is amazing Ruddy," Harry said happily taking another large bite.

Viktor snorted in amusement, "I know you said you like treacle tart, but I had no idea how much."

Harry simply grinned at Viktor licking his fork before taking another bite.

"I vas thinking that ve could go shopping tomorrow. Perhaps get Harry some new clothes and you can pick out some things for your room if you like Harry?" Anna asked.

"Oh, oh that's OK I'm find with what I have. Thank you though Anna," Harry mumbled going back to eating his treacle tart.

"I insist Harry, it will be a good opportunity for you to see the magical community in Bulgaria. Besides, you need some things of your own."

Harry reluctantly nodded, "OK I guess. I am excited to see what the magical community in Bulgaria is like though."

Viktor shook his head at Harry's obvious attempt to divert the conversation.

"I think you vill like it Harry, ve vill also get some more owl treats for Hedwig and Bere while we are out."

The two owls had taken a great liking to each other since their introduction.

"Ooh Hedwig would like that" Harry grinned feeling more enthusiastic about the planned shopping trip.

Harry finished off his treacle tart and excused himself, an early night was in order after such a long day. He laid in his new bed revelling in the comfort before drifting off to sleep.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Harry awoke in the middle of the night panting and covered in a layer of sweat, Cedric's last moments flashing before his eyes before everything ended in a bright flash of green. He shuddered at the memory, wrapping his arms tighter around himself as he slowly calmed down. He looked over the Hedwigs perch hoping to gain comfort from his first friend, to find she wasn't there. 'She must be sleeping in the owlery' he thought. He didn't want to lay back down and possibly see Cedric's death again, so he pulled the blankets off himself and climbed out of bed. He quietly opened his door and padded down the hall until he came to the family parlour and library.

He strolled through the extensive stacks of books, taking in the sheer amount of reading material. He walked until he found a book that caught his eye. A book on local folklore, it looked interesting so Harry carried it over to a large red lounge and started to get comfortable.

A few hours later he was awoken by a warm hand on his shoulder. Opening his eyes blearily he blinked several times until Viktor came into focus.

"Viktor, what are you doing here?" Harry enquired, still half dazed from sleep.

Viktor chuckled lightly, "I could ask you the same question Harry, vhy are you not in bed? How long have you been in here?"

Harry sat up and looked around, realising he had fallen asleep while reading, a hint of pink brushed his cheeks.

"I had a little trouble sleeping so decided to come and read, I guess I must've fallen asleep at some point" he explained sheepishly.

Viktor's brows furrowed in concern, "Vhy did you not sleep vell Harry, was your room not to your liking?"

"No nothing like that Viktor, I just didn't sleep well. The room is very comfortable though."

Viktor stared at Harry intently scanning his face carefully. "If you ever have trouble sleeping again Harry please come to me, OK?"

Harry nodded, though he knew it was unlikely that he would.

"Now you better go and get ready, I know mother vill vant to leave early."

"OK, I will just go change and meet you at breakfast."

With that Harry dashed back to his room to get ready before hurrying downstairs for breakfast. As he walked in, he saw everybody else there already eating.

"Good morning Harry" Anna said, eyeing him critically. Harry guessed that Viktor had mentioned his trouble sleeping last night. "Are you ready for our shopping trip today?"

"As ready as I'll ever be" he replied with a small grimace.

Andon chuckled at this, "don't worry Harry I vill ensure Anna doesn't get to carried away."

Harry smiled gratefully at the man before quickly eating some eggs on toast.

"Where are we going shopping anyway?" Harry asked curiously.

"Ve will apparate to Sophia. Located in Sophia is a magical shopping district called Rose Lane, that is vhere ve vill be doing our shopping. There is a barrier that looks like an ordinary vall but those with magical blood are able to pass through. If you have no magical blood, it will appear and feel like an ordinary vall."

"That is quite amazing," Harry said impressed. "It's sort of like the barrier that lets us onto platform 9 3/4."

"Vell if you've finished your breakfast we should get going, try to beat the crowds" Anna said moving to collect her hand bag. "Ve vill apparate to Sophia and then valk to the entry of Rose Lane. Ve have keyed you into our vards here Harry so that you are able to enter and leave at will. I know you are not yet old enough to apparate so Viktor will side along apparate with you. Have you ever apparated before?" Andon enquired.

Harry shook his head, "no I haven't, only portkey and floo."

"Apparating is similar to a portkey" Viktor explained. He wrapped his arm around Harry's slim waist and pulled him close. "Just hold on tight and ve vill be there before you know it."

With that everything went dark and Harry felt as if the whole world was compressing around him. After a few seconds the pressure eased, and Harry stumbled back gasping for air feeling disorientated. Viktor kept his arm around Harry until he was sure the other boy wasn't going to fall over.

"See not so bad Harry" Viktor said with a small smirk.

Harry just glowered back "I'm not sure which is worse portkey or apparating."

"Now before ve enter there is one more thing to do. Harry ve are aware that you cannot speak any language other than English." Andon said and Harry nodded in consent.

"There is a spell that vill allow you to understand every language you hear as though they are speaking English and they vill hear what you are saying as though you are speaking their language. You vould have needed it anyway for attending Durmstrang as there are many different languages spoken there as the school accepts students from all over Europe. It vill also allow you to read any language you see as though it were English. Are you happy if I cast the spell now so that you can understand everyone vhile ve shop?"

Harry nodded touched that the man didn't just do the spell but asked His opinion first.

As the spell washed over him, Harry didn't feel any different, 'only one way to see if it works' he thought as he followed his new family around a quiet corner to face a large brick wall. At a glance, it seemed quite ordinary, but Harry could feel the hum of magic that radiated from it. He followed Anna and Andon through the wall, Viktor following after him.

His eyes popped and his mouth fell open in surprise at all the sights that greeted him.

Even though it was still quite early there were people everywhere already shopping. The clothes were similar to the robes he wore back home, though they seemed to be made out of a different material. There were food stalls lining the alley selling a variety of wares, everything looked delicious and Harry was determined to try a few things during their outing. The smells coming off the foods were incredible and seemed to envelope Harry in a sort of haze. Rose Lane seemed bigger than Diagon Alley though a lot of the shops were similar.

Apothecaries, book stores, an animal menagerie and even a joke shop! There was so much to explore, he didn't know where to begin.

Viktor put his hand on Harry's shoulder bringing him back down to earth.

"I've said your name three times already Harry, I take it that means that you like it here?" Viktor enquired.

"It's a-amazing" Harry stuttered, stumbling over his words as he continued looking around. Now that he was looking more closely, he noticed that Rose Lane seemed much older than Diagon Alley, he couldn't put his finger on exactly why he thought that except to say that the place just felt old.

"Come Harry, we shall start with clothes then work our way around from there," Anna said briskly, walking towards a nearby shop painted a deep red color with faded gold letters that proclaimed the name of the shop to be Zee Zee's Place.

They walked in the door and a middle-aged woman with flowing red locks walked up to assist them.

"Well if it isn't the Krum's! Welcome home Viktor, it is so good to see you again. I must say Bulgaria is missing you terribly this season, when will you be playing again?" the woman prattled on pausing to hear Viktors answer.

Harry realised that the woman wasn't talking English but he still understood her perfectly as though she was. 'Guess that means the spell is working' he thought.

"Ah Antonia, it is so good to see you again," said Anna walking forward and embracing the woman fondly, Andon and Viktor doing the same.

"I have been missing quidditch myself Antonia, I will be returning to training towards the end of summer," said Viktor.

The woman grinned at that "excellent news Viktor, I'm sure all the local ladies will be glad you've returned, I hear you've been terribly missed" she teased.

Here Viktor flushed a faint red "ha, I doubt that Antonia."

Harry smiled at Viktor's embarrassment, it seemed he liked his fame just about as much as Harry did. Maybe that was one of the reason's he decided to help Harry because he knew on some level what it felt like.

The woman who Harry now knew was Antonia turned to look expectantly at Harry.

"And who might you be?" She said, carefully taking in Harry.

"This is the newest member of our family, his name is Harry," Andon said gesturing Harry forward.

"He has recently come to live with us and will need a whole new wardrobe, everything from socks to full dress robes."

Antonia nodded in understanding, running her eyes over Harry as she tried to get an eye on his size. She was curious about the new addition to the Krum family, but knew better than to ask.

"Well come through to the change rooms, I will go and select some clothes for you to try on."

Harry spent what felt like the next five hours trying on clothes. He felt like his head was going to explode by the end of the ordeal. Anna was just as bad as Antonia, walking around the shop and pulling out different items for him to try. By the end Harry had more clothes than he thought he could ever wear in a lifetime. Everything from underwear and socks to pyjamas, muggle clothes and all types of robes including his school robes. He offered to pay but Andon and Anna wouldn't hear of it, exclaiming that they wanted to buy them for Harry.

Antonia shrunk all their purchases, so it was easier for them to carry, then sent them off with a friendly wave.

Harry felt like he was nearly too tired to even walk but he perked back up a bit when they were back amongst the sights, sounds and smells of Rose Lane. He noticed that people eyed Viktor wherever they went, some even stopping to greet the quidditch star. Viktor was friendly to everyone but Harry could tell that he wasn't fond of the attention.

Their next stop was a book shop called Second Story, Harry strolled the shop finding a beautiful book on local magical creatures that were found around these parts of Europe. It sounded both informative as well as interesting. They stopped shortly after to enjoy a light lunch before they visited the local quidditch supply store. Viktor chose to stay outside while Harry looked around, buying a new pair of quidditch gloves. He figured with the colder weather in winter it was probably a good idea for when he is flying. Their last shop of the day was The Magical Menagerie, Harry looked thoughtful as they walked around taking in all the animals. He found a large bag of owl treats that he knew Hedwig would love.

"Now Harry you are allowed one pet to bring with you to Durmstrang. They don't class owls as pet's as they are used to do a job so you are allowed to bring Hedwig as well as one other pet. So have a look around and see if there is anything that you like." Andon instructed.

Harry did just that, he strolled through the neat and orderly aisle with nothing catching his eye until he came across a pure white cat sitting by itself in a large cage. The tag said that it was Kneazle, whatever that was.

Viktor noticed Harry looking at the kneazle and approached, "he is beautiful Harry, do you like him?"

Harry nodded sticking a finger in the cage and letting the kneazle lick his finger gently.

"I don't really understand what he is though, how is he different from a normal cat?" Harry asked.

"Kneazle's are similar to cats, though they are larger, more intelligent and very protective of their owners. I definitely wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of an angry kneazle,"

Krum grimaced at the thought. "They are also known to be a very good judge of character, all in all a very good pet to have" Viktor finished.

Harry looked at the beautiful kneazle, thoroughly impressed. Harry was so enamoured with the kneazle that he didn't notice that Viktor had walked off until he came back with a shop assistant in tow.

"We will take this kneazle, please."

"Oh no Viktor honestly it's OK" Harry mumbled.

"Harry, I insist, if you want it then I will get it for you" Viktor argued.

Harry who felt it was rude to keep arguing with Viktor when he really did want the kneazle just nodded a little reluctantly.

The shop owner unlocked the cage and passed the animal to Harry, who couldn't wipe the grin off his face.

"Oh, thank you so much, Viktor!" Harry exclaimed wrapping an arm around Viktor in a tight hug, earning a hiss from the kneazle that was stuck between their chests.

Harry chuckled stepping back, "Oh sorry little one," he said scratching him behind his ear. "Would you like to come home with me?"

The animal, of course, didn't say anything but did start purring softly so Harry took that as a yes.

Andon and Anna were impressed with the latest purchase, giving the kneazle a pat before they all started heading toward the apparition point to go home.

"You will have to think of a fitting name for this beautiful creature Harry," Anna said smiling as she apparated away.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

A week later Harry walked into breakfast, his kneazle trailing behind him.

"I have finally found a name for him," Harry said, after spending the last week searching the library for a name that stood out.

Anna was so excited she actually cheered. "Finally Harry! So what name did you decide on?"

"I've picked Zima, it's Russian for winter. It just seemed to suit him, what do you think?"

"It's perfect."

"A great choice Harry" replied Anna who reached out and gave Zima a gentle pat on the back.

"We are back to work today, are you boys going to be able to entertain yourselves?" inquired Anna.

"Of course mother," Viktor said smiling, "we are thinking some flying and then a swim today."

"Oh, something different than what you've been doing for the last week then hey" Anna responded sarcastically.

Harry and Viktor walked to grab their brooms as Anna and Andon left for work.

Harry gave Hedwig a soft pat as he passed her on his way to get his broom, sleeping on her perch in his room. Thankfully Hedwig and Zima had got on very well, both seeming to agree that Harry was to incompetent to look out for himself and needed an owl and kneazle to do it for him.

And so the next few weeks passed in a similar fashion. Harry didn't remember the last time he had had so much fun and felt so relaxed. He and Viktor went swimming or flying most days, Viktor had even been helping him to learn to swim when he found out Harry knew little more than doggy paddle. They laid outside soaking up the sunshine, talking sometimes or laying in companionable silence at other times. They spent hours reading in the library, with Viktor showing Harry books that would be helpful when he starts at Durmstrang. Zima was a near-constant companion at his side, Harry noticed that Hedwig was spending more and more time with Bere, but she still made a point of visiting him every day.

When he awoke on July 31st his 15th birthday, Harry wasn't expecting much of anything. He hadn't mentioned to anyone that it was his birthday and he wasn't sure if they were aware or not. He laid in bed snuggling deeper under his blankets deciding a bit of a lay-in was in order on ones birthday.

When Harry woke up again a few hours later it was mid-morning and his stomach was growling loudly. Since living with the Krum's his appetite had improved a little but he didn't think he would ever be a big eater. Viktor, Anna and Andon watched him like a hawk at every meal to make sure that he was at least eating something. Their concern was actually very sweet.

When Harry walked into the family dining room for breakfast he found Andon and Anna had already left for work, though Viktor was sitting waiting for him.

"Good morning Harry, how did you sleep?" Viktor asked he knew that Harry sometimes suffered from nightmares that made sleep difficult.

"Quite well thank you Viktor, what's the plan for today?"

"Well, I need to go in for a meeting with the Bulgarian coach to prepare for my return to the team in the new season. I was wondering if you would want to come along and meet the team and watch them training?" Viktor explained.

"Really!?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Of course," Viktor said smiling softly at Harry's excitement. "If you would like to come, we better get going, they are expecting me soon."

Harry quickly finished his breakfast and followed Krum through the floo, landing in an unfamiliar office, Harry promptly fell out of the floo tripping over and landing in a heap on the floor.

"So graceful Harry" Viktor joked helping Harry to his feet brushing soot off his robes.

Harry heard chuckling and looked around noticing another man in the office with them. The man was taller and more built than himself or Viktor, with brown hair and eyes a shade or two light than Viktors.

"This is my coach Will, Will this is the newest member of my family – Harry," Viktor said, making the introductions. "I thought I would bring Harry to meet the team and have a look around while we chat."

"Hello Harry, it is wonderful to meet you," Will said, reaching out and vigorously shaking Harry's hand. Harry felt rough skin and calluses on the man's palms, 'probably a beater' he thought.

"Come on Harry we will walk you out to the pitch," Will said, leading the way through a labyrinth of halls until they emerged onto a large pitch.

Harry looked up in awe as 7 players zoomed around high above his head. They flew so quickly Harry could barely keep track of what was happening.

Viktor was watching the players zooming around intently, "Morgan is flying well" he commented.

"He is a very good seeker," Will agreed, "though he has nothing on you. Morgan is actually looking forward to you being back full time and him going back to reserve. It's been hard on him trying to study full time on top of quidditch."

"I bet" Viktor mumbled seeping his eye on the players.

Will blew a sharp whistle and everyone turned and flew down to the ground, landing gracefully in front of Will. They called greetings to Viktor upon seeing him, with firm handshakes all round.

"Welcome back Viktor, how was it over in England?" One of the players asked.

"Let's just say it was interesting," Viktor said gruffly.

Viktor put his arm on Harrys back, guiding him forward.

"Everyone, I would like you to meet the newest member of my family, this is Harry."

Harry smiled and gave a small wave to the assembled men. Who he noticed all stood head and shoulders above him.

"What's this now Viktor, you go and get yourself married while you were in England hey? Bit young for you though don't you think?" said a solid man who looked to be in his mid-twenties.

The whole team burst into uproarious laughter at this and Harry ducked his head blushing slightly at what they were insinuating.

"Aw he's blushing, isn't he adorable, I can see why you married him Viktor" another player smirked.

Here Viktor growled, "I didn't bloody marry him you imbeciles, I adopted him!"

That shut everybody up pretty quickly.

"Why on earth did you adopt him Viktor?" someone asked, Harry wasn't sure who as he was studiously staring at the ground.

"It was an easy decision actually, he needed someone to take care of him, a family. I wanted to be that family" Viktor answered sincerely.

Harry looked up and shot Viktor a warm smiled at those words, a part of himself that he didn't even know was empty starting to slowly fill up.

The players nodded thoughtfully at that, some looking concerned while others seemed to have a better understanding of the situation.

"Harry is going to watch you train while I go and meet with Will, please try not to torment him too much and look after him while I am gone," Viktor said sternly before briefly wrapping his arm around Harry's shoulder and giving it a squeeze before following Will back to his office.

After Viktor left Harry turned to face the Bulgarian quidditch team, all of whom were staring at him, wide-eyed and curious. To stave off any questions that he didn't want to answer Harry started talking.

"So, ah, how is training going?" Harry asked then groaned quietly at the lameness of the question.

One of the players sensing his discomfort decided to take pity on him, "Hey Harry I'm Dimitri Volkov – beater for the team."

That started everyone off, introducing themselves and what position they play on the team. Harry took it all in easily, nodding along as everyone spoke.

"Well we best get back to practice, can't hope to impress you on the ground," one of the chasers – Harry thought his name was Petar – joked.

With that they all took off into the air again, Harry moved to the edge of the pitch and laid down on the grass watching them flying overhead.

It was nearly hypnotic watching the blurs flash before his eyes, the blue sky in the background.

After about 45 minutes, Harry heard a thunk as two people landed nearby.

Over walked Morgan and Dimitri, "Hey Harry, would you like to play with us? We usually play 4 a side with Will at this point in training however Will is busy and we thought you may want to have a go. You don't have to be amazing, just try not to fall to your death or anything,"

Harry nodded his understanding while reaching out to take the proffered broomstick.

"I think I can manage that" he replied cheekily.

He kicked into the air, closing his eyes as he let the breeze wash over his face. His usual happiness at being on a broom was there and he grinned happily as he floated along, oblivious to the eyes on him.

After a minute or so he opened his eyes.

"Alright, who's ready to play?" Dimitri asked seeing that Harry was ready.

"Each team gets one beater, one keeper, one chaser and one seeker" Morgan explained. "What position would you like to play?"

"Seeker please" replied Harry.

"You're a Krum, of course you play seeker," Morgan laughed.

"OK, Harry you will be on my team," Dimitri said as the players sorted themselves into teams. And play began.

It was amazing watching from the ground but up in the air it was incredible. Harry felt a little overwhelmed at the skill everyone around his was portraying and sat frozen for a second taking it all in before he remembered that he only had one job to do, find the snitch.

He circled over the pitch, eyes peeled as he searched for that spot of gold. He kept an eye on Morgan who was doing something similar. Though neither of them was having much luck. He dodged as a bludger zoomed past him with Dimitri shooting past after it, giving Harry a thumbs up as he went.

As Harry watched Dimitri fly by a glint of gold caught Harry's eye. About 20 metres above his head was the snitch! Harry took off like a shot, eyes focused on the snitch, Morgan seeing Harry fly off quickly gave chase. Morgan was the better flyer, but Harry had quite a head start on him. The snitch flew through the air and Harry focused intently on it, weaving and dodging as he went. He reached out his hand just as the snitch changed direction again. Harry jerked his broom sharply to compensate, his hand closing over the golden snitch just as he felt himself collide with something very hard and solid. He grunted as the collision knocked him off his broom, but he found himself immediately pulled onto another broom by a strong set of arms before he could even register what had happened. He blinked several times allowing his brain to catch up to what had just occurred. Turning he saw a grinning Morgan looking at him, "alright there Harry?"

Harry just nodded his brain still trying to catch up. After a second Harry realised, he was perched on Morgans lap, Morgans arms still wrapped around his small waist, he blushed as the realisation hit him, looking away as they landed on the ground, the rest of the team landing around them.

"Harry are you OK?" Dimitri asked landing and rushing over as Harry extricated himself from Morgans grasp.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Lucky Morgan was there to catch me though, thanks by the way," Harry said sheepishly looking at the other seeker.

"Any time Harry" Morgan replied with a smirk. "Good catch by the way."

"Thanks," Harry said brightly holding the snitch up for all to see.

"Great catch Harry" a few more people murmured a few patting Harry on the back.

As Harry turned around, he saw Viktor walking towards him, still in deep conversation with Will. Upon seeing him Harry ran forward snitch grasped tightly in his hand.

"Viktor look! I caught the snitch" Harry said brightly.

Viktor looked up from his conversation and smiled at Harry.

"Well done Harry, not after my job are you?" he joked.

Harry just laughed shaking his head.

"I reckon he could give you a run for your money Viktor" Petar laughed.

They stood around talking for a while before Viktor announced that it was time to go.

"We best be heading home now Harry. I will see you all in a few weeks when I'm back at training," Viktor said addressing his teammates.

"Bye everyone, it was lovely to meet you all," Harry said.

"Bye Harry, you're welcome back any time," they said waving as Harry and Viktor walked back to Will's office and flooed home.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

As Harry stumbled out of the floo he immediately noticed something was different. He could hear voices in the house that should be silent at the moment.

He turned an inquiring eye to Viktor who just shrugged, looking a little too innocent. Harry immediately felt suspicious as they walked out of the parlor through the house and to the back door. Viktor opened the door waiting for Harry to walk out before him. As Harry walked out a large amount of noise immediately assaulted his ears.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!" dozens of voices yelled.

Harry stumbled back in shock, Viktor put a steadying hand on his shoulder to stop him falling over as Harry took in the scene.

There were dozens of people in front of him all smiling and saying Happy birthday. There were several large tables ladened with food and Harry spied a large cake in the shape of a dragon. Balloons filled the air, floating just above everyone's heads spelling words like Happy Birthday and Hip Hip Hooray.

Andon and Anna walked out of the crowd and gave Harry a big hug.

"Happy birthday Harry," they said in unison.

"H-How did you know it was my Birthday?" Harry stammered.

"I actually remembered it Harry," replied Viktor. "I heard it mentioned when we were at Hogwarts. I hope it's OK that I told my parents? Although once I told them they insisted on throwing you a party" he finished, rolling his eyes fondly at his parents.

"Of course, it's alright Viktor, it's just I've never had a birthday party before. There's so much to take in" Harry replied eyes running over the brightly colored streamers that were forming themselves into the shape of animals and running around the party.

At his words the three Krums shared a dark look, unfortunately not surprised by the fact that Harry had never had a birthday party before.

"Well there's a first time for everything," Andon said lightening the mood again.

"We thought it would be a good opportunity to introduce you to the rest of the family as well Harry. Everyone has been dying to meet you since we told them we had a new family member." Anna said leading him over to the crowd of people gathered around.

Harry was a little nervous with so much attention focused on him, but it was also exciting to think that these people were a part of his family, he had always wanted a big family.

Anna introduced him to everyone, aunties, uncles, cousins, grandparents, they all smiled at him warmly, shook his hand, patted him on the back and welcomed him to their family.

Harry was overwhelmed by the feelings of acceptance and love that was being extended to him.

After the introductions were made the party got into full swing. Music started playing and Harry wandered over to the food table grabbing a cupcake and turning to watch the proceedings.

People were laughing and talking, a few were dancing along to the music and a few were like Harry and getting into the delicious food. 'This is obviously a family who cares a lot about each other' Harry thought immensely glad that he was now a part of it.

People came and chatted to him as he hovered by the food table. Discussing topics like quidditch and his schooling. One of his new cousins came over for a chat, she had softer features than many of the other family members and her eyes were a shining blue color.

"I'm Neave" she said, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear. "I just thought I would come and say hello as we will be attending Durmstrang together, though I am a seventh year. Durmstrang can take a little time to get use to so please feel free to come and see me if you need anything, OK?"

"I will, thank you"

"You're welcome," she said smiling before enquiring about the beautiful kneazle that had just crawled under the food table.

Harry laughed bending down to make introductions between Neave and Zima.

When the party was wrapping up Anna walked out carrying a large pile of presents.

Harry found the extent of the pile quite astounding, surely they couldn't all be for him.

That proved to not be the case as Anna approached him and dumped the whole pile at his feet.

Harry just stared in shock for a moment before Andon yelled, "get into them Harry!"

Snapping out of it Harry sat down and began to carefully unwrap each present with the utmost care. Viktor watched him with a tender smile gracing his lips.

Harry got more things than he could possibly dream of, clothes, quidditch gear, new books as well as several items from the local joke shop, just to name a few.

He thanked everyone profusely for the presents and for the party as they all started packing up and heading inside to floo home. Neave came over and said a quick goodbye.

"See you in a few weeks, Harry," Neave said waving as she followed her parents through the floo.

After the last person had left through the floo Harry turned to Viktor, Anna and Andon and gave them each a big hug.

"Thank you so much, that was honestly the best birthday I have ever had in my life" Harry exclaimed running his hands over a soft grey sweater Uncle Alek had given him.

"You're most welcome Harry, come on now let's get all these presents up to your room," Viktor said.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Harry woke up a few days later to tapping on his bedroom window. He opened the window allowing a large owl to fly through. The owl gave him a haughty look holding out his leg for Harry to retrieve the letter. As soon as he did the owl took off back out the window without a backward glance. Harry examined the envelope, it was thick and Harry noticed the Durmstrang seal on the back. His school letter had finally arrived.

Harry walked down to breakfast greeting Anna, Andon, and Viktor as he walked in.

"Look what just arrived," Harry said holding up the letter as he sat down.

"Ah your school letter, excellent Harry, open it up and see what it says" instructed Andon.

Harry opened the envelope and pulled the letter out, starting to read.

_DURMSTRANG INSTITUTE_

_Headmaster: Stefan Akulov_

_Dear Mr Krum_

_Welcome to Durmstrang Institute._

_Please find enclosed a list of all necessary equipment and textbooks as well as a portkey that will activate at 5pm on the first day of term and bring you to Durmstrang._

_As you are a transfer student you will be sorted with the first years._

_We look forward to seeing you at the start of the school year on 25th August._

_Sincerely_

_Ivan Belov_

_Headmaster_

After that there was a list of items he would need for the school year, most things looked similar to what he had at Hogwarts. There was a list of the subjects he would be taking this year as well as his new 5th-year textbooks. It seemed he would be studying Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Transfiguration, Duelling, Herbology and Defensive Magic.

Harry was impressed with the course list, especially defensive magic, he wondered if it would be very different to Defence Against the Dark Arts.

He read the letter out to the rest of the family. "What does it mean that school starts on 25th August, shouldn't it be 1st September?"

"Oh no Harry, Durmstrang starts one week earlier then Hogwarts. You will be starting 25th August" Viktor explained.

"How about we head to Rose Lane again on the weekend and get all your school things?" Anna asked sipping from a steaming cup of coffee.

Harry had found in the weeks that he had been living here all the Krum's had a love for coffee.

"Sure, that sounds great" Harry replied.

"Are you ready for our walk now Harry?" Viktor enquired putting down his own cup of coffee and standing from the table.

"I sure am Viktor, I can't wait to explore the forest a little.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Severus Snape was not a happy man. Out of everyone, Dumbledore had chosen him to pick up Harry from his relatives' house and bring him to the Burrow for the last 2 weeks of summer. Anyone could've done it but of course, it had to be him. He shuddered as he walked across the perfectly manicured lawn to the front door. Knocking once then listening to the sounds of thumping feet before the door was flung open. In the doorway stood a huge man nearly as wide as he was tall and with a large bushy mustache. The man growled at the sight of Snape.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here" He gasped, his face purpling as he eyed Snapes robes. He reached out a chubby hand and dragged Snape into the house, slamming the door behind him.

"I am here to pick up Mr Potter," Snape answered coldly. "Please call for him immediately, I wish to be done with this task as soon as possible."

Vernon looked at Snape, a sneer clearly visible on his face.

"Well he's not here, is he?" Vernon said gruffly. "Never got off the train, I thought you lot had changed your mind about sending him here this summer."

"Do not lie to me Dursley, I've had enough of this nonsense" Snape hissed venomously. "Potter get down here NOW" he shouted face turned toward the stairs.

"I'm bloody well telling you he isn't here." At this point, Petunia came out of the kitchen and nodded along to her husband.

"He is telling the truth," she said with a sneer. "Harry never got off the train at the end of the school year

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

The last few weeks of summer flew by. Viktor became the big brother that Harry always wanted, Harry wasn't sure if he had ever had a relationship like this before. Someone who was there for him unconditionally, who was always on his side. Harry supposed Hermione was the closest that came to that but he didn't really think she counted as he hadn't heard from her all summer. Viktor was just so calm and level headed, Harry felt that he could tell Viktor anything and he would take it in his stride.

The morning of the 25th August Harry awoke with his stomach turning in knots. He was excited to start at his new school but was also anxious about what it would be like. He was also worried about leaving the Krum's, this had been the best summer of his life, he didn't want to leave the safety and security he had found here but knew that he had to.

When he went downstairs for breakfast he found that Andon and Anna had taken the day off work so they could spend his last day before school together. It was spent picnicking by the lake and enjoying each other's company,

When 4.30 rolled around Viktor went in search of Harry, finding him sitting on his bed staring at his packed trunk. Hedwig and Zima sitting patiently in their cages.

"Harry, are you ready to go?"

"I just need a minute Viktor" Harry answered running his hands through his thick black locks.

"What's wrong Harry, maybe I can help," Viktor said with concern, sitting beside Harry and putting an arm around his shoulders in comfort.

"Just nervous I guess, just hoping everything goes a bit smoother at Durmstrang then it did for me at Hogwarts. I'm also not sure what I should tell people about me. Should I say I'm Harry potter or not?" Harry asked, uncertainty creeping into his voice and when he turned to look at him Viktor could see the worry in his eyes as well.

"Harry that is completely up to you, you are a member of our family now and nothing can take you away from us. However, it's also nobody's business if you decide not to say anything. How about you don't worry about it and decide when the time comes?

Harry nodded looking down at his lap for a moment. "Thank you, Viktor, for everything. I don't know what I would have done without you. You'll write to me while I'm away at school won't you?"

"Of course Harry, I will write to you every week just promise to write back. I am going to miss you terribly."

Harry nodded feeling a little better.

"Come on Harry, it's nearly time to go," Viktor said picking Harry's trunk up while Harry picked up Hedwig and Zimas cages and leading him downstairs.

Harry thanked Anna and Andon profusely as they both enveloped him in a big hug. "We will write all the time and I want to hear everything that is going on at school OK?" Anna asked.

Harry nodded giving Viktor one last hug before taking hold of the portkey, which was in the shape of a small coin, and his trunk. As the portkey started to glow he gave his family one last wave before he disappeared.

He landed in a large stone entryway, stumbling and falling to the ground like per usual when traveling by magical means. He scowled as his trunk fell over with him.

He heard chuckling and looked over to see a tall boy who looked to be around 17 standing to the side of the room. If Harry had to make a guess he would say he was a seventh year.

The boy walked over helping Harry to his feet and straightening his trunk.

"Welcome to Durmstrang Mr. Krum."


	6. Chapter 6

**I do not own Harry Potter**

**Hey there everyone, I tried to do some research on Durmstrang but there wasn't a lot of information so I've just used my imagination. I do apologise if something isn't spot on but that is the joy of fanfiction **** Also in a previous chapter I wrote that at Durmstrang they sorted with a sorting hat like Hogwarts because I believe I read it somewhere, however, when I was writing the sorting I just didn't like it so I went back and changed that part. I just wanted to explain in case anyone got confused.**

**Also, there is a tiny bit of what some people may class as character bashing in this chapter. I'm trying to write it as less character bashing and more characters being self-centred at the present time **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thank you for reading.**

**Chapter 6**

Harry stared at the boy for a minute before coming to his senses and responding with a polite, "thank you." Harry took in the others appearance noting the deep red robes and the fur lined cloak that he himself was wearing.

The seventh year looked at him amused for a moment, "the Headmaster asked me to meet you and escort you to the sorting chamber. Just leave your things and they will be taken to your room later."

Harry nodded and gave a quick farewell to Zima and Hedwig before trailing after the other student.

The boy turned to look at Harry curiously, "we don't get many transfer students here, in fact I'm not sure if we've ever had a transfer student before."

Harry wasn't sure what to say to that, so he just stayed silent, watching the other boy out of the corner of his eye.

They walked down a narrow hall before emerging in a small room, Harry noticed that the room was predominantly bare except for the 20 or so students milling around nervously.

"Wait until you are called" and with that his guide left leaving Harry to take in the other students in the room.

They were all younger than him, so Harry assumed these were the first years waiting to be sorted. Harry thought about what the boy had said about not getting many transfer students and hoped that this fact didn't draw to much attention to himself.

The first years looked at him with closed off expressions though Harry could see curiosity sparkling in their eyes, probably wondering what he was doing with them.

A few minutes later a voice called the first years out of the room. No one mentioned him, so, confused, Harry decided to stay put and wait to see if someone came for him.

As the minutes ticked by, he began to feel anxious and started tugging on his hair in agitation. Luckily before he could get too worked up the door opened again and a man stuck his head in, beckoning him out.

The man was older than Harry, looking to be in his early forties he was short and stout with chestnut coloured hair and eyes the color of honey. Though when Harry looked into his eyes he noticed that they held a hard glint, definitely not someone to cross Harry thought lightly.

Harry followed the man out of the chamber where they emerged straight onto a raised platformed area.

He looked around in open amazement at his first glimpse of Durmstrang, it was both similar yet completely different to Hogwarts. For one, it was smaller than Hogwarts though he wondered if the closed ceiling added to this feeling. There were only three tables instead of four, each representing the three school houses, though each table was filled with students. He noticed that the student's uniforms didn't differ to show what house you belonged to, though, he knew the three houses were Atticus, Concinne and Dontrine. Students in Atticus house are said to be daring and brave though also cunning. While Concinne house students are said to hold an innate charm, their house values not just pure blood but an inner beauty. Dontrine students are said to be the dreamers, the academics, not necessarily worried about how brave they are or how they are perceived by others but holding value in their pursuits. Harry didn't mind which house he was sorted into, he would accept the decision without argument, unlike when the sorting hat attempted to put him into Slytherin he thought with a slight roll of his eyes. The room was beautiful though, made of grey stone that looked like it could survive anything that was thrown at it. Even though there were no fires lit, the castle gave off a feeling of warmth.

Harry looked around some more and noticed that all the students in the hall were staring at him and whispering. He blushed brightly realising that he had been gaping like a kid at a carnival in front of so many people.

A man stepped up beside him and cleared his throat. Harry turned quickly green eyes meeting stormy grey before he looked away again, noticing the staff members watching him as well.

"Everyone" the loud voice of the man next to him echoed around the hall. As soon as he spoke the hall fell silent, attentive eyes taking in the man. "We have a new transfer student starting with us today, this is Harry Krum."

All eyes flicked to Harry and he squirmed slightly under the scrutiny.

"Now Harry, stand still while I cast the spell that will tell us what house you belong to."

With that the man raised his wand, Harry tensed slightly as he was enveloped in a soft white light. He felt magic coursing through him and watched as the white light surrounding him turned a deep purple.

"Concinne house" a deep clear voice beside him called out. The table in the middle started clapping politely though Harry noticed that there was not much enthusiasm behind it.

Harry cast a glance at the man beside him, getting a brief nod Harry walked off to join his new house.

As he walked towards his table, he noticed many students still looking at him, he sighed hoping the interest wouldn't last long.

He sat down smiling politely at the students around him before turning to face the front of the hall again.

Another man had stood up and moved to the front of the platform taking in the students with a steely gaze. The man looked to be in his late 30's and with an aura of power that seemed to pulsate around him. Even from where he sat Harry could sense the power radiating off the man. He had dark hair like many others in the hall, however, his was long and tied loosely at the nape of his neck. Harry also noticed that the man had several scars across his face and neck, 'I wonder how he got those' Harry thought with curiosity. After a moment he addressed the hall.

"Welcome to Durmstrang Institute" the man said, his voice a deep rumble. "I am Headmaster Akulov. I may be new here but I know that Durmstrang Institute has an impressive reputation that I am entrusting all of you to uphold. Together, we can make Durmstrang truly great again." He finished as the hall broke into strong applause, many students stamping their feet on the ground or hands on the table in front of them.

Harry smiled at the man's words, no nonsense, no fluff, no mysterious words designed to confuse students, it was rather refreshing Harry thought as Headmaster Akulov returned to his seat. The headmaster must have felt Harrys stare for he raised his head and swung around to look at him. A flash of interest passed over the man's face before it was gone, and he turned to engage the teacher next to him in conversation.

Harry refocused his attention on the students across from him, two boys who looked to be a little older then him. Harry smiled shyly when he noticed them looking at him as well.

"Hi, I'm Harry," he said hesitating when he saw one raise an eyebrow at him.

After a moment they both responded.

"Hello Harry, I'm Blake and this is Martin" the one on the right responded while the one on the left just nodded in greeting.

Harry smiled softly, feeling a touch of excitement about possibly making some new friends, "It's very nice to meet you both. Are you seventh years?"

The boys shared a look of surprise at the new student's openness.

"Sixth years actually and what are you, second or third year?" Blake asked eyeing Harry's small stature and slim frame.

"I'm actually a fifth year" Harry responded with a slight huff.

Though neither student showed any outward change in their appearance they were both surprised, they shared another look. How could this small boy be a fifth year? They decided to let it go for now.

"Are you related to Viktor Krum by any chance?" Martin asked. Harry noticed that several students were surreptitiously listening in to their conversation.

"Yes, I am actually" Harry answered. Blake and Martin waited to see if Harry would say anymore, but he had returned to looking at his plate, effectively ending the conversation. They could take a hint and let the conversation drop, it was not unusual for students at Durmstrang to not be forthcoming with information about themselves.

Harry looked down at his plate, not wanting to get in a conversation about his past with these strangers. He looked around at other people's plates wondering where the food was.

As if reading his mind, the headmaster waved his hand and food appeared along the table. Some things he had seen before though there was a few he didn't recognise.

He dished up a delicious looking stew and tucked in, listening to the conversation flowing around him. The conversation mostly revolving around what everyone had done over summer. Harry found the light conversation comforting.

After dinner all the students moved as one heading for their own common rooms in various parts of the castle. As they started to shuffle out of the hall Harry found Martin and Blake on either side of him.

"We thought we would show you the way to the common room Harry, don't want you getting lost on your first night" explained Blake.

"Thank you," Harry said with a bright smile, appreciating the kind gesture.

As they walked through the castle Harry let his eyes trail over everything he saw while Martin and Blake pointed out things of interest along the way. The halls were lined with torches, providing light but also infusing the castle with warmth Harry knew that he would appreciate that warmth when winter hit. There were fewer paintings on the walls then at Hogwarts, though the ones that were there watched the passing students with interest. After a few minutes they arrived at a door, it actually reminded Harry of his bedroom door at home, large dark wood with an intricate tree carved into its surface.

The seventh years stood at the front of the gathered group, "this is the entry to our common room. As you enter there is a ward on the door that will only allow entry to students of this house or to other students who enter with a student of this house," a rather short girl with curly brown hair but a loud carrying voice explained.

"That's very clever" Harry murmured to Martin and Blake, who nodded in agreement.

As the seventh year who had spoken earlier opened the door and stepped through, the rest of the house filed through. Harry was amazed at the orderly fashion, there was no yelling or shoving in sight.

As he walked into the common room Harry found himself gaping again. Several students stopped to watch him, smirking at his reaction.

The room was beautiful, with large leather armchairs everywhere, tables to work at and even a few soft purple blankets that Harry could see himself curling up under with a good book in winter. The carpet was a thick deep blue and Harry found himself wishing he could run his hands through it to feel the soft texture. He fortunately decided that that was probably not going to make a good first impression on his fellow house mates, so he thankfully restrained himself.

Harry felt a hand on his back and jumped in surprise.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you" said Blake soothingly. "I just wanted to introduce you to your fellow fifth year boys," he indicated three boys who were sitting together talking on one of the leather lounges.

Harry took in the appearance of the three boys as they made their way over. The one on the left had rich auburn color hair, even though it was a different shade, the color reminded him of Ron, and he felt a pang of sadness for a moment thinking of his once best friend. The other two looked as though they could be twins, and Harry hoped they didn't cause as much trouble as the Weasley twins. They both had hair and eyes of the deepest black that regarded Harry with an unreadable expression as he made his way over to the trio.

"Harry this is Timur" Martin explained pointing to the red head, "and this is Roman and Lukas" he said pointing to the twins. "Harry will be joining you as a fifth-year student."

The three nodded in understanding.

"It's nice to meet you" said Harry, smiling sweetly holding out his hand to shake first Timur's hand and then Romans and lastly Lukas's. All three boys were staring at him and Harry surreptitiously brushed his face in case he had food left over from dinner there.

Martin seeing this fought back a chuckle, the new boy was actually quite adorable and obviously unaware of the fact.

Timur stood up, "Welcome to Durmstrang Harry."

The twins stood as well, on closer inspection Harry noticed that they looked nearly identical. He looked from one to the other and the twins noticing his attention smiled slightly.

"Yes, we are identical twins Harry" one of the twins said, Harry thought it was Lukas if the introductions earlier had been accurate.

Harry flushed slightly at being caught staring.

Before he could think of anything to say two girls approached their group, both eyeing Harry with suspicion.

"Harry this is two more of your fellow fifth years, Jasmine and Annika" Blake said pointing to the two girls.

Harry frowned slightly at the looks of hostility on one of the girls faces, what could he have done to upset her, they had only just met!

Harry looked a little unsurely at the pair before adopting a friendly look on his face, "Hello there, its nice to meet you."

Jasmine nodded, "welcome Harry."

Annika however scowled at him, the look of hostility caught Harry by surprise, and he frowned in response. The gathered boys watched the exchange with interest, Annika was known to be difficult to deal with especially for those who did not know her well.

"Ah, is there a problem?" Harry asked eyeing Annika's scowl. At his words though her scowl just deepened.

"I'm just wondering how we ended up with the only transfer student Durmstrang has seen in the last 100 years?" Annika answered snidely eyeing Harry up and down with distaste. "I bet you aren't even a pureblood are you?"

At her words Harrys eyes narrowed and his green eyes flashed, his fellow fifth years as well as Martin and Blake watched as anger morphed on the previously sweet face, the glowing green eyes nearly mesmerising.

"Not that it's any of your business but no I am not a pureblood, I'm a half blood. It is completely ridiculous to judge people based on blood purity, some of the strongest witches and wizards I know are half-bloods or muggleborns." Harry finished a little more calmly then he had begun but honestly how stupid could some people be. "I actually read an article recently about how magic is dwindling in purebloods due to all the inbreeding" Harry said, a small smirk gracing his lips.

At his words Blake burst out in laughter, his eyes alight with mirth.

Lukas, Roman and Martin stepped up beside Harry, "and what exactly is wrong with being a half-blood" Roman asked menacingly.

Annika paused for a moment seemingly realising that she had said the wrong thing.

"We don't even know him, I don't trust him" Annika hissed.

Harry let out a big sigh the fight running out of him. It was the same old story, people judging him when they hadn't even bothered to take the time to get to know him.

"That's right you don't know me, so don't stand there judging me," Harry said wearily running his fingers through his dark hair. "Look, could we do this another time I'm pretty tired and want to get to bed."

His fellow fifth years frowned at him, noticing his change in demeanour, Roman shooting a glare of annoyance at Annika who just shrugged in return.

"How about we show you our dorm?" Timur asked, Roman and Lukas nodding beside him.

"Good night Martin, good night Blake, hopefully I will see you both tomorrow" Harry said quietly, following Roman towards a door off the common room.

Now that he was looking, he noticed that the room was lined with doors. He counted and realised that there was two for each year, one for girls and one for boys.

They walked up to the tenth door, Roman opening it and leading the four boys inside.

Harry looked around and noticed that the room really wasn't that much different from the boys dormitories at Hogwarts. Four beds lined one wall, Harry was pleased to see the beds were covered in what looked like thick warm blankets, there was also black hangings around the beds offering a modicum of privacy. Harry observed that there was no fire place but again the torches on the walls helped to warm the room. The room was cool even in late summer, he dreaded to know how cold it would get in winter.

Glancing once again at the beds he spotted his trunk then saw Hedwig and Zima sitting on his pillow.

He gasped in happiness, his dour mood instantly lifting as he spotted his familiars.

"Hedwig! Zima!" He cried as he ran forward and scooped Zima into his arms, scratching behind his ears with one hand while patting Hedwigs soft feathers with the other.

"How do you like our new home?" to which he got a soft trill from Hedwig and Zima rubbing his cheek against Harry's chin.

"Who are these beautiful creatures" Timur asked approaching Harry and reaching out a hand to delicately stroke Hedwigs feathers.

"This is Hedwig" Harry said pointing to his owl, "and this is Zima" he finished pointing to the Kneazle that was currently leaning against his chest and watching the other three in the room with a critical expression.

"Well, it is a pleasure to meet you both" Timur said formally, making Harry smile.

Harry went to the adjoining bathroom to get ready for bed and when he came out, he found the other boys already in bed. He frowned when he noticed that his bed was in between Lukas and Roman's.

He hesitated for a moment looking at Roman and Lukas's blank expressions.

"Ah if you prefer to sleep in beds next to each other I don't mind moving."

At that both twins rolled their eyes at him, "No, we don't mind you sleeping between us Harry" one of the twins said, Harry looked closely and thought it was Lukas, there was just something a little different about Lukas's eyes.

Harry shrugged and climbed into bed, failing to see the look the twins shared.

He laid down and listened to the idle chatter around him for a few minutes before calling a quiet goodnight to his dorm mates and pulling his curtains closed. He cast a strong silencing charm around himself and snuggled down into a restless sleep.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

At Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore's office was filled to capacity, he rubbed his temples tiredly as the continuous noise threatened to give him a headache. Harry had been found to be missing a week ago, but no one was any the wiser about where he was. Albus had been shocked to learn that no one was actually sure how long he had even been missing for, by all accounts he hadn't been seen since school had finished up.

Sirius, Remus, Molly, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the Minister for Magic himself were the cause of all the yelling that now filled his office.

"Where the bloody hell is my Godson!?" Sirius yelled angrily spit flying from his mouth as his faced turned red.

"How should we know? He was supposed to be at his muggle relatives for the summer!" Mrs Weasley yelled back just as angry as Sirius.

"Hermione, Ron, haven't you been writing to him over the summer? Has he said anything about where he is?" Remus enquired a little more calmly though the amber glow in his eyes let everyone know just how close the woof was to the surface.

Here Ron and Hermione looked uncomfortable. "Ah we haven't actually written to him yet this summer. There was just so much else going on we never seemed to have the time," Hermione answered sheepishly.

"Well some friends you are" Sirius sneered angrily.

"Like you can talk Black," came Snape's snarking tone from where he was leaning against the wall near the fire place watching the fight unfold. "He is your Godson, surely you have been writing to him all summer yourself?"

Sirius's jaw shut with an audible click as he realised the truth behind that statement, he hadn't written to Harry at all this summer either. He'd even forgotten Harry's 15th Birthday he thought as his stomach twisted uneasily. Sirius turned cold eyes to Snape who just smirked knowing that he'd hit home.

"I've had a very busy summer Snape, now that I've been accepted back as an Auror, training takes up nearly every hour of the day" Sirius justified while Remus nodded beside him.

Here the Minister interjected angrily, "we need the boy back for the victory ball that the ministry is throwing. He is the symbol of the light, people will expect to see him. He lifts peoples spirits and makes them feel safe, he needs to be there."

Here Dumbledore nodded, "indeed he does need to be there, with so many death eaters still on the loose the public will be looking to him for guidance."

Ron approached the Minister a cautious look in his eye as he took in the other mans agitated expression. "Sir, I will do everything I can to help find Harry but if he doesn't return will I still be receiving the Auror training that you promised?"

Severus actually rolled his eyes at the words, of course the youngest Weasley was more interested in his future career options then his supposedly best friend.

"We shall see Mr Weasley, for now we need to organise a plan as to how we will find Harry."

"Severus, are you able to contact any death eaters that are still at large to see if they are holding Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

Snape merely nodded his head, annoyed that Dumbledore was asking him to put his life in danger yet again.

"Ron, Hermione, Sirius and Remus, can you please write to Harry. See if you can gather any information about where he is. I will also organise members of The Order of the Phoenix to conduct searches of anywhere I feel Harry may be being held. Are there any questions?" Dumbledore finished eyeing the now quiet group.

When no one voiced any concerns, he dismissed the group and began organising a list of places that would need to be searched.


	7. Chapter 7

**I do not own Harry Potter.**

**A big thank you to everyone who has favourited, followed and reviewed the story. It honestly means so much to me and motivates me to keep writing **

**The next chapter may be a bit longer in coming as I am doing a summer course at uni, but hopefully it won't take too long.**

**I hope you enjoy the next chapter!**

**Chapter 7**

Harry woke early the next morning, he looked around for a moment before he remembered where he was. Pulling back his curtains he noticed that his dormmates were still sleeping, he slipped silently from his bed and decided to make the most of the empty bathroom to enjoy a long hot shower. The hot shower helped to sooth some of his nerves and with more confidence he finished getting ready for his day. Hedwig and Zima were nowhere in sight so he assumed they were off somewhere exploring their new home.

Harry wasn't sure when breakfast started so decided to read quietly on his bed until his dormmates woke up. He was half a chapter into his Transfiguration text book when the other boys began to stir.

Timur gave him a small smile as he headed for the bathroom, but Harry noticed that the twins were barely awake and didn't acknowledge him as they dragged themselves into the bathroom as well. Harry was glad that he had gotten ready early, so he had missed the morning rush. He went back to reading his text book when he heard the bathroom door open, he looked up to see Timur walk out smiling at him.

"Good morning Harry, I trust you slept well"

Before Harry could respond Lukas and Roman walked out both still dripping wet, towels wrapped around their waists. Harry gaped at the sight for a moment eyes flicking between the pair before quickly turning his face away, he cheeks burning.

Roman smirked at Harry's embarrassment and proceeded to pull his towel off and dry himself in the centre of the room before slowly pulling on his clothes. Lukas did the same, though he was still half asleep and unaware of his audience.

Harry determinedly kept his face turned away and decided the best course of action was to simply ignore. Obviously, this was just a regular occurrence that he would have to get used to.

His eyes swept to Timur who was grinning widely at Harrys embarrassment, Harry rolled his eyes at this before answering Timur's earlier question.

"Morning Timur, I slept quite well thanks, how about yourself?"

"Oh, very well thanks, though there is nothing like a nice hot shower in the morning to get you going, hey?" Timur responded, his grin widening even further.

Harry's green eyes narrowed at this. "I'm going to head down to breakfast, I will see you down there" Harry responded, starting to head towards the door to their room.

"Wait a moment Harry and we will all accompany you. It's your first day here wouldn't want you getting lost" Lukas called out, seemingly finally catching up to the mood in the room.

Harry paused at his words before nodding, he had no clue how things were done here, it made sense for him to wait for his dormmates. Luckily, he didn't have long to wait before everyone was ready and they were heading out their door. They walked through the common room and straight out the door to the hall. As they entered the hall, he noticed that some students turned to look at him, but he just ignored them, continuing to the same table as last night and dishing himself up some eggs on toast.

Lukas and Roman sat either side of him and Timur sat across the table from him, the three started eating vigorously while Harry merely nibbled at his eggs on toast.

Harry kept quiet as he listened to the conversation around him from the other students, mostly about what classes they might have that day.

Just as he was finishing his toast a piece of parchment appeared on the plate in front of him. He picked it up to read, noticing that everyone at the table was now looking over their own parchment.

"It's our timetable for the year" Roman explained. "Our whole year has classes together regardless of house."

Harry looked down and saw that today they had Care of Magical Creatures, Charms and Herbology. What a nice way to start the year, though Harry was a little disappointed that he didn't have any of his new classes today. He had been quite looking forward to giving duelling a crack.

As he kept reading his timetable, he felt a wave of homesickness overcome him. He looked down quickly as his eyes start to mist and it felt like a cold fist gripped his heart. He couldn't help but remember Hogwarts as he sat here in Durmstrangs hall, waiting for his first day to begin. He knew he had made the right call leaving, but that didn't mean that he didn't miss some things that he had left behind. He was also missing Viktor terribly, today had been the first time in months that they hadn't awoken and shared breakfast together before heading out for a morning fly. Harry wondered what Viktor was doing that morning, was he out flying already? Was he missing Harry as much as Harry was missing him? He decided that he would write Viktor a letter tonight when classes were over.

His new friends noticed his change in demeanour, they eyed the room carefully to see what had upset the younger boy, but nothing really stood out.

"Harry, is everything OK?" Lukas asked quietly beside him.

Harry started, forgetting for a moment that he was in the hall surrounded by people. He cursed himself silently, he didn't want to come across as weak, he had a feeling some people here would be only too happy to exploit weakness.

"Oh yes, everything's fine. Just feeling a little homesick is all" Harry explained quietly.

Lukas nodded in understanding, he was lucky to have always had his twin with him so had never really suffered from it, but he knew a few people at the start of every year got homesick.

"Would you like to talk about it" he asked Harry gruffly, wanting to help not really sure how to go about it.

Roman and Timur shared a surprised look, it wasn't often you saw Lukas willingly talking about feelings to anyone let alone someone he had just met.

Harry smiled softly at the offer, aware of how uncomfortable Lukas was but touched that he had made the offer.

"I'm just missing Viktor and I guess wondering if he is missing me. I know it's silly he is probably too busy to have even had a chance to miss me yet" Harry answered with a small grimace.

Roman who had been listening to the conversation as well leaned over and said with complete sincerity, "I can't imagine anyone not missing you Harry."

Harry turned around to look at Roman, his eyes opening in surprise as Timur choked on the sip of juice he had just taken.

Roman himself seemed taken by surprise at his own answer and quickly turned back to his breakfast ignoring the chuckle from his twin.

Their words however did make Harry feel a little better, it made him feel warm inside to think that he was already making some friends.

Just as they were preparing to leave Blake and Martin walked in with two girls who looked a similar age to the pair.

Harry's face lit up when he spotted his friends, the last of his sad mood falling away.

"Blake, Martin, good morning" Harry began, greeting them cheerily.

The older boys smiled at Harry, "good morning Harry, how was your first night?" asked Martin.

"It was great thanks," Harry replied, deciding to skip the part where he had been up half the night with nightmares.

"This is Annabelle and Hannah" Blake said pointing first to the tall girl with soft honey colored hair then to the other girl who was slightly shorter with dark curls falling over her shoulders. "They are in Concinne with us."

"It's lovely to meet you both" Harry said pleasantly holding out his hand to shake one girls hand and then the other.

Both girls seemed surprised by the niceness of the greeting, students at Durmstrang were not known to be the most expressive sorts. Most trained from a young age to keep themselves hidden behind a stoic mask. But here stood the new transfer student who held no such qualms about wearing his heart on his sleeve. His face an open book for anyone to read, it was like a breath of fresh air through Durmstrang.

"Blake and I were wondering if you would like a tour of Durmstrang later Harry? We figured you probably have no clue where anything is yet, so a tour might come in handy."

"That would be amazing, thank you so much" Harry said enthusiastically.

"Great, well we better get into breakfast before we run out of time, we will see you later Harry" said Martin. Harry waved as the four walked off, while he joined his new friends as they headed off to their first class of the day, Care of Magical Creatures.

As they walked out of the front doors Harry gazed around in amazement again, he seemed to be doing that a lot lately. He knew the grounds were large but really, he had no idea just how beautiful they were. Large sweeping hills, forests and several lakes met his eyes as he looked around. He also saw what looked like stables in the distance, I wonder what they keep there he thought. Hopefully Blake and Martin would show him on his tour later.

Timur smiled at the look on Harry's face as he gazed around the grounds. "It's truly beautiful here isn't it?" Timur asked.

Harry just nodded, too busy taking in the sights to form a coherent answer.

As they started walking Harry realised, they were walking towards the stables that he had spotted earlier.

"This is where we have Care of Magical Creatures" Roman explained, motioning to the approaching building.

As they got closer Harry realised the building was larger than he thought, about the size of half a football field. They walked in the building to be greeted by a large open space, surrounded by a variety of enclosures. The enclosures varied in size from large to small, some with heavy wooden doors, others were more like glass enclosures.

"It sort've looks like a zoo" Harry wondered aloud.

"Ah, I'm not sure what a zoo is but this is an animal clinic," Timur explained gesturing around him. "Sometimes classes are held here, sometimes down by the forest depending what we are doing in the days lesson."

Harry looked around still not quite sure what the purpose of the building was.

"This is where any sick or injured creatures come to be treated. We not only learn about different creatures but also how to take care of them," Roman said pointing out the variety of different enclosures for different types of animals.

Harry was seriously impressed, "that is such a good idea" he exclaimed feeling excited for the class to start.

He approached the closest stall and peered in coming face to face with a large black skeletal creature that look like it could be distantly related to a horse. He jumped back in surprise then approached a little more cautiously.

"Hey there beautiful," Harry murmured reaching out a hand slowly.

Roman and Lukas shared a look, "who are you talking to Harry? That stall is empty."

Harry turned and frowned at the trio, "what are you talking about? There's a big black horse thingy in there" Harry said looking at them like they were crazy.

Harry turned back to the animal and reached out his hand again, running his hand gently over its long neck. It was soft and leathery, and Harry could feel the bones moving under his hand as the creature shifted.

The creature let out a soft trill and Roman, Lukas and Timur jumped in surprise while Harry chuckled softly at their reaction.

"He's just saying hello" a deep voice said behind them, this time it was Harry's turn to jump in surprise. He spun around and came face to face with a tall muscular man. Harry thought working with creatures must keep you in shape because the only other man he has ever sit as strong looking was Charlie who worked with dragons all day. The man looked to be quite young, perhaps his mid-twenties and had dark hair and the deepest blue eyes Harry had ever seen.

"Oh, I'm sorry" Harry spluttered in embarrassment backing away from the unknown creature.

"It's OK" the man said eyeing Harry thoughtfully, "he seems to like you after all. Class is about to start though, why don't you boys get ready" the teacher said, moving to the front of the large empty space.

It was then that he noticed other students had begun to arrive as well.

When the open space was mostly full of students, the man began the lesson.

"Good morning and welcome back everyone. I know all of you know me from our previous two years together but for our new student Harry, I believe a brief introduction is necessary." At his words Harry felt many eyes flicker to him then back to the teacher, Harry blushed softly at the attention.

"I am Professor Boden and I teach Care of Magical Creatures, I have been teaching at Durmstrang for the past two years. This class is not only about learning to identify different animals and creatures but also how to care for them. Creatures are supremely intelligent and deserve our respect and friendship and I will tolerate nothing less in my classes." As he finished his speech his eyes flashed to Harry in clear warning, leaving no doubt that there would be serious repercussions if the creatures were not treated this way in his class. Harry gulped a littler nervously but nodded at Professor Boden.

"Today we will be learning about Thestrals," at his words he threw open the door to the enclosure Harry had been at earlier and the large skeletal creature walked out slowly, eyeing the students with a contemptuous look.

Harry chuckled, amused that the creature could even pull off such a look and Harry saw Professor Boden smile slightly at him.

"Now hands up, who can actually see the creature standing in front of them?"

Harry raised his hand, as well as a short girl with caramel hair.

The Professor nodded like he had expected nothing less.

"Thestrals are gentle creatures, though they can be dangerous if you provoke them. They have an amazing sense of direction and can fly at amazing speeds. They are able to pull heavy loads and are extremely loyal to those they trust. Hence why this one consented to coming to class with me today" Professor Boden explained.

"Now, I'm sure your all wondering why some of you can see them but most of you can't? Does anyone happen to know the answer?"

At his question five students raised their hands into the air. Harry noticed that the class was very well behaved, everyone was listening attentively, and some students had parchment out and were taking notes. He wondered if this was the norm at Durmstrang or just this class in particular.

"Yes, Sarah?" Professor Boden said pointing to a girl towards the front of the class.

Sarah cleared her throat before speaking, "the only people who can see Thestrals are people who have witnessed death."

At her words a few of the students gasped and some turned to stare at him and the other girl who could see the Thestral. He heard Lukas whisper to Timur and Roman, "wonder who he has seen die?" Harry turned to see the three of them eyeing him speculatively.

Harry gulped thickly, great this is just what he needed to be reminded of on his first day. His mind automatically straying to Cedric and how his last year at Hogwarts had ended.

He looked down, taking a few deep breaths, there was no way that he was going to get upset in his first class on his first day at his new school.

Harry looked back up and focused on what the teacher was saying, trying to get his face to remain in a calm mask.

Professor Boden looked at his new student and he wondered if the teen had any idea how expressive his face actually was. Professor Boden could tell that he was trying to calm himself, but his startling green eyes swam with pain, his jaw and shoulders tense. He felt bad for his new student, I'm sure this is the last thing he needs on his first day at a new school.

Lukas seeing Harry's distress reached out and place a hand on his shoulder in comfort. Harry turned and smiled appreciatively at the gesture and feeling the warmth soak into him he felt himself begin to relax a little. Lukas kept his hand on Harry's shoulder for a few moments longer before letting it drop to his side.

"Now I want you to come out in pairs to calmly pet the Thestral, I want you to gently feel him, getting an idea of what he looks like from touch and then return to your books and attempt to draw what he looks like. Those of you who can already see the Thestral can still come and pet him if you wish, this Thestrals name is Ernie and he is a glutton for attention. Once you have finished your drawing, I want you to pull out your text book and find me three interesting facts about Thestrals that we have not already discussed today. I also want you to tell me two ways in which you would treat an injury to a Thestral differently to an injury to a hippogriff. You will not be leaving for your next class until you are done, so I suggest you work hard."

At his words the class sprang into action, forming into pairs and lining up to feel the thestral.

Timur came and stood beside Harry to form a pair and they fell into line behind Lukas and Roman.

As they approached Ernie, the thestral turned to look at Harry. Harry guided Timur's hands to Ernie's back where he started to pet down his spine and run his hands over his leathery wings.

Harry himself ran his hands through the thestrals dark mane, the thestral leaning in and nuzzling his neck slightly. Harry smiled at the gesture, strongly reminded of Hedwig and Zima.

Harry turned to see Professor Boden watching him thoughtfully, but before Harry could comment the man had turned away to assist a student.

Harry and Timur walked over to join Lukas and Roman on their assigned work. Before Harry knew it the class was over and the group was walking back towards the castle for charms. As he traipsed along with the rest of his year, he couldn't help but think that that was one of the best classes he has ever had. He just hoped that the rest were just as good.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

As the whole year walked into Charms, he started to pay more attention to the students around him. There seemed to be around 25 students in their year, the group as a whole was quite quiet, talking amongst themselves but none were overly exuberant. Harry supposed that this was just the behaviour expected at Durmstrang. There was a mixture of both boys and girls and most looked friendly enough.

Harry took a seat at a desk next to Roman, while Lukas and Timur sat at the desk behind them.

An elderly witch walked in with a stern expression on her face. Her long grey hair braided around her head and pinned at the back.

"Good morning everyone, I trust that you all had an enjoyable summer. For those of you who are unaware I am Professor Nilsson and I am the Charms Professor here at Durmstrang."

Harry didn't know if it was her age or her mannerisms, but this teacher strongly reminded him of Professor McGonagall. The Professor went succinctly through the days lesson, Harry taking as many notes as possible, before getting them to practice the spell. Today they were working on a spell that would get a wound to stop bleeding and Harry was astonished to realise that he had never learnt any basic healing charms before. Now that he thought about it it seemed like a gaping hole in his magical education. Although, maybe they didn't start learning them until older years at Hogwarts he reasoned. Though with the world how it'd been the last few years he was astounded to think that the teachers at Hogwarts hadn't thought to teach them at least the basics of healing.

The class ended and Harry's brain was spinning with how much information it had just taken in, luckily, he had been able to perform the spell by the end of class, Timur hadn't managed it and had extra homework to practice it tonight.

"I don't know if I would be any help, but I would be happy to work with you on the spell tonight if you like?" Harry asked as they walked towards the hall for lunch.

Timur turned to look at Harry a slightly surprised look on his face before it quickly disappeared, "sure Harry that would be great, thank you."

As they sat down for lunch Annika, Jasmine and another girl sat down with them. Harry greeted them all pleasantly though inside he was feeling anxious around Annika after her treatment of him the day before. Perhaps Jasmine noticed his anxiety because she leaned over and engaged him in conversation, asking how he was enjoying his lessons so far.

After lunch the afternoon seemed to fly by. Herbology at Durmstrang was very similar to Herbology at Hogwarts, a middle-aged witch with a passion for plants ran the class and Harry found her enthusiasm infectious.

He was walking in through the castle's front doors with Roman intent on practicing the charm they had learnt earlier that day on a small cut on Harry's finger.

"Hold still Harry, I will have this fixed in no time" Roman said holding Harry's hand gently in his own.

"Honestly Roman, it's only a little cut from a plant in Herbology just leave it" Harry said, attempting to pull his hand away. But Roman wouldn't let go, he gripped Harrys hand tighter muttering the spell, then he ran his thumb over the place where the cut used to be, inspecting his spell work. Harry blushed at the touch and Roman shot him a small genuine smile.

"There, all better."

"Ah, thanks very much" Harry replied pulling his hand away and putting it in his pocket.

As they walked into the common room Harry was immediately waylaid by Blake and Martin who appeared to have been waiting for him.

"Ready for your tour Harry?" Martin asked.

"I sure am" said Harry excitedly, "just let me put my bag in my room" he said as he ran off to chuck his bag on his bed before hurrying back.

"Let's go" he said, and Blake and Martin smiled at his enthusiasm.

Harry waved goodbye to Timur, Lukas and Roman before leaving with the older boys.

They walked around for over an hour, Martin and Blake showing Harry all the things of import at Durmstrang, giving him a running commentary along the way.

"This is where Charms is usually held, and this is where you will have Transfiguration," Martin explained pointing to different corridors as they walked along.

"Be careful when entering an empty classroom Harry, they tend to be used by students for a variety of reasons. Students practice duelling, meet up for study groups or meet their lovers in empty classrooms" Blake said with a wink. "So always best to knock, just to be on the safe side."

"Oh, don't worry I learnt that lesson at my old school" Harry said shuddering at the memory of walking in on Draco and Pansy getting friendly in an empty classroom.

Blake eyed Harry curiously, 'so he has been to a school previously, not home schooled at least' Blake thought, thinking about the puzzle that was Harry.

"There are no hidden passageways at Durmstrang like at some schools, but we have plenty of alcove's that offer some privacy if you ever feel like you need some time to yourself."

Harry nodded filing that information away for later, he knew from experience at Hogwarts that sometimes you do need a break.

As they walked, they chatted about their summers. Harry told Blake and Martin about spending his summer flying and exploring with Viktor, both were suitably impressed though they knew Harry hadn't told them to impress them, he truly cared about Viktor and spoke about their summer together with fondness. Harry didn't talk about anything other than his summer, but Blake and Martin didn't push him.

Blake spoke about travelling with his family for most of the summer, while Martin had spent most of his summer with his new baby sister. Harry could tell that they both cared about their families greatly.

They made it back to hall for dinner, Harry telling his year mates all the different things he had seen, while they put in with anything else, they thought he should know. Jasmine again engaging him in conversation.

"Curfew is 9pm Harry but you are able to get a pass from the library to stay out an extra hour if you are in there studying" Jasmine explained.

"That's good to know" Harry said as he dished up some stew for his dinner.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Later that night found Harry laying on his bed writing a letter to Viktor, telling him all about his first day and his sorting. He hoped that Viktor would write back soon.

When he was finished, he watched Lukas, Roman and Timur playing exploding snap for a few minutes before pulling his curtains and falling into an exhausted sleep, it had been a long day.

**I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!**

**Also, I am after peoples thoughts on who I should pair Harry with? **

**Choices are the twins in a triad though not twincest relationship, Martin, Blake, perhaps someone from Viktor's quidditch team or Professor Boden?**

**Let me know your thoughts as I am having trouble deciding.**

**Thank you!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi everyone! Thank you to everyone who has followed and favourited this story and all the great reviews! I had a little break from writing this story while I was working on others but I'm back working on it now. If you have any votes for who you want Harry to end up with, comment now cause I am going to decide before I start working on the next chapter.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this latest chapter!**

**And as always, I do not own Harry Potter **

**Chapter 8**

The next morning started in a similar fashion to the one before. Harry woke before the others and quietly got ready for his day. Instead of laying on his bed however he grabbed his broom and made his way outside to the quidditch pitch that he had been shown the day before. He thankfully didn't meet anyone in the halls as he made his way outside to the morning sunshine. It had only been a few days but felt like ages since he had taken his broom out and he thought to himself that if he kept waking up early, he may make this a regular occurrence.

The air whipped his face and through his robes as he flew around the pitch, pushing himself faster and faster with each lap. Feeling any concerns that had been resting on his shoulders float away on the wind. After a dozen laps around the pitch he felt sufficiently warmed up and started working on a few of his favourite quidditch moves. He was playing with the idea of trying out for his house team when they ran trials but was a little bit worried about drawing attention to himself. He decided to play it by ear and decide as trials got closer.

He checked the time and seeing that it was close to breakfast he headed back into the castle, shrinking his broom and placing it in his pocket as he went. The hall was pretty much deserted as it was still quite early so Harry just took a seat at his table and started dishing himself up some muesli with yogurt and a cup of tea. He felt something brush against his leg and looked down to see Zima curling around his feet.

"Hey beautiful, would you like a sausage?" Harry asked quietly, breaking up a sausage and placing it on the ground in front of Zima, before giving him a scratch behind his ears and returning to his own breakfast. Harry watched as the hall slowly filled around him, enjoying the quiet time to observe the other students. Quiet time didn't last long, as he soon found himself surrounded on both sides by Lukas and Roman, while Blake sat down opposite him.

"Where's Timur and Martin?" Harry asked looking between Lukas and Roman.

"They are just finishing getting ready, we decided to come down early to check you were ok seeing as how you were gone before anyone else was awake this morning." Lukas said, a slight snip to his voice as he ran his eyes over Harry to make sure he was OK.

Harry looked surprised at the admission that they had been worried about him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you. I woke up early so decided to go out for a fly before breakfast."

Lukas rolled his eyes at that. "Just be careful Harry, you're new around here and there are people here who may try to take advantage of that."

Now it was Harry's turn to roll his eyes, "I'm pretty good at looking out for myself, but thank you for your concern."

Lukas just nodded and went back to eating his breakfast.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

Harry checked his timetable before leaving the hall with his three dormmates, Zima having wandered off some time during breakfast. Today they had Potions and Transfiguration then free time in the afternoon. Harry had a spring in his step as they made their way to potions, to the amusements of his new friends. Harry had always quite liked potions but had never done well with Snape breathing down his neck and Slytherins sabotaging his potions, maybe this year could be different. As they walked into class the potions Professor asked everyone to remain standing, he then proceeded to place everyone in pairs.

"Your partner today will be your potion partner for the rest of the year, so I suggest you do your best to get along and work together."

Harry's partner was a boy name Anders, though he didn't have a clue who that was and Harry being much shorter that everyone in the class couldn't get a good look around. He decided to just wait while people started moving to their partner and found a table. A stocky blonde started walking toward him, he was still taller than Harry but where Harry was lithe this boy was solid, with a broad chest and thick arms and legs.

He inclined his head as Harry smiled and walked over, "I'm guessing we must be partners?"

"We are if you're Harry Krum?" Anders replied.

"As far as I know" Harry replied with a small grin as the pair made their way to a spare desk.

Today they would be making a wit sharpening potion, Harry went and collected the ingredients while Anders set up their cauldron.

They started preparing the ingredients Harry cutting up the fluxweed roots while Anders set the water on to boil.

"Harry, make sure that you cut the pieces the same width" Anders said gently. Harry swung around his eyes widening in surprise and Anders froze for a second as he took in the stunning green and black eyes.

Anders moved Harry to the side with a slight nudge, "here let me show you." With that the stocky blonde proceeded to slice the roots showing Harry how to hold the knife and roots to ensure they were cut correctly.

"Oh, I'm sorry" Harry said sheepishly. "Potions isn't my strongest subject, but I promise to work really hard" he said sincerely. Worried that Anders wouldn't want to be his partner anymore if he knew how terrible he was at potions.

Anders simply nodded again, "if you need help just ask."

"I will, thank you" Harry said with a small smile as he started grinding up the flitterby wings.

By the end of the class they had quite a good potion and Harry was happy that they had managed so well.

Anders hadn't spoken much all lesson, but it wasn't in a rude way, Harry just got the impression that he wasn't much of a talker. Harry quite enjoyed the quiet comradery that sprung up between them as they brewed and thought that this year potions might actually be enjoyable.

Harry waved goodbye to Anders as he walked over to Timur, Lukas and Roman who were waiting for him at the door.

"Alright there Harry?" Roman asked as they started walking off to lunch.

"Yep, that was probably the best potions class I've ever had. I can't wait to see what we brew next time."

"Anders treat you OK?" Lukas asked. "He isn't known to be the friendliest person."

"Oh yeah Anders was great," Harry said. "Gave me some good pointers to help with my potion skills and trust me I can use all the help I can get." He finished with a small self-deprecating chuckle.

They were just finishing their lunch when the people around Harry went quiet. Harry looked up from his roast beef sandwich to see Anders standing behind him.

"Hey Anders, would you like to sit down?" Harry asked as he shuffled down the bench pushing Timur along.

"No thank you, I just wanted to give you this." He handed over a book. "I thought you may find it useful." Before Harry could respond he had walked off again.

Harry looked down to see a book titled _The ins and outs of Potion Making: A how to guide to mastering potions. _

Timur leaned over to read the title of the book, "why'd he give you a potions book?" The red head asked in confusion.

Harry just smiled thoughtfully, "I was telling him I need all the help I can get, I guess he thought this book would be useful."

Harry opened the book straight away and started flicking through it. It looked really interesting with information on how different ingredients interact, the proper way to store and cut ingredients, there was even explanations on the proper way to harvest certain ingredients. Harry knew the book was going to be invaluable and cursed himself for not thinking of looking for something similar earlier, maybe the last four years of potions wouldn't have been quite so bad if he'd had it.

Harry was amazed when he got to transfiguration and discovered that this year they would be working on their animagus transformation. There were very strict rules guiding the process but Durmstrang deemed it a necessity to learn and Harry couldn't help but agree. He wondered why Viktor hadn't mentioned it but decided that he probably didn't realise that it was out of the ordinary, that Hogwarts didn't teach it.

He nearly jumped out of his chair in excitement when the teacher made his announcement earning a raised eyebrow from Roman who was sitting next to him. He couldn't explain that this meant so much to him because his father had been an animagus, to Harry it felt like a connection to his family. He felt a touch of sadness when he thought of Sirius and how he would've probably been very helpful during this, but the ex-Gryffindor brushed the feelings aside, determined not to let them ruin his excitement.

He wasn't even disappointed when he found out that this lesson would simply be reading the textbook and taking notes on animagus transformations.

Their Professor an elderly man with curly white hair handed out the textbooks, one between two and Harry and Roman spent the rest of the lesson hunched over their book taking as many notes as possible.

As they were leaving the classroom Harry saw Anders up ahead leaving with a group of fellow Atticus students, he hurried up and tapped him on the shoulder.

The whole group stopped and turned to look at Harry. He paused for a moment as he found himself assessed by five sets of eyes.

"I just wanted to say thank you so much for the book Anders, I know it's going to come in very handy. I've only just skimmed through it but I've already learnt why its important not to mix dragon blood and armadillo bile which will no doubt save us from some potions related catastrophe in the future." Harry chuckled wryly and Anders lip quirked to the side in amusement.

"Well anything to save us from a future potion related catastrophe" Anders said dryly, his blue eyes shining in amusement.

"I was wondering if perhaps you wanted to meet up once a week to work on our potion homework together?" Harry continued looking a little nervous. He had never been great at making friends, but he was determined not to enclose himself in one small group within his own house this time. He wanted to at least try making friends with others.

The group of Atticus students eyed him in surprise for a moment and Harry began to wonder if he had made some social faux paus, but thankfully Anders nodded at him.

"Sure Harry, how does Thursday after dinner in the library sound?"

"Great, I will see you then" with a wave goodbye Harry headed off back down the hall to Roman, Timur and Lukas who were waiting for him, eyes trailing him as he walked away.

"The new student is a bit different" said one of the boys standing with Anders.

Anders simply nodded as he watched the small figure walking away. While the students of Durmstrang were friendly to each other there was also a fierce rivalry amongst them. It was expected that all students strived for their absolute best which often meant that fellow students weren't usually very willing to offer assistance. If you didn't understand something in class, it was expected that you studied and practiced until you got it right. Sure, Anders had given Harry the book, but that had mostly been because his own potion mark was tied to him, so he needed to ensure that the raven-haired student didn't make simple mistakes and cost them marks. The offer to study together was unexpected though not unwelcome and Anders found himself quite looking forward to it.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

That night found Harry curled up on a couch in the common room his head on the arm rest reading his new potion text, his feet resting in Martins lap, who was busy reading a copy of advanced transfiguration for class the next day.

"Wow, did you know that stirring clockwise then anti-clockwise actually helps to release magical properties in some ingredients?"

Martin looked up from his textbook and smiled at the small fifth year curled up next to him.

"Actually, yeah I did, it's pretty basic knowledge for potion making actually." Martin said though he didn't sound condescending, just like he was stating a fact.

"Huh" Harry said as he went back to reading his book, "well I never knew, no wonder my old potions teacher used to get so cranky."

Martin rolled his eyes at that, but Harry already immersed in his book didn't notice.

The pair stayed there in companionable silence until they were interrupted by a group of Martin's friends from his own year. Harry sat up and shuffled next to Martin to make more room on the lounge for people to sit on. He ignored the conversation around him as he continued to read his book slowly drifting until he was leaning against Martin's side his head resting on the others shoulder. Martin's eyes flashed to Harry in surprise, but he didn't say anything letting the younger boy lean against him.

Harry finally put his book down and looked around when he heard a large number of students enter the room. Apparently, it was quite common for groups of students to go flying after dinner, sometimes playing quidditch, sometimes just flying around the castle grounds. Harry had been tempted to join them but decided against it for the moment.

"Welcome back" Harry said as he stretched, his body stiff from being in the same position for so long. "How was your flight?"

Blake, Timur, Lukas and Roman all crowded in on some nearby chairs.

"It was great, even managed to beat Lukas in a race around the castle" Roman said with a smirk.

"Only cause you bloody cheated" Lukas responded giving his twin a shove.

"You should join us next time Harry, I'm sure with your Krum genes you're a natural."

"Maybe" Harry said non-committally and thankfully the others dropped it. Harry felt eyes on him and glanced around the room until he found Annika glaring at him. He looked away but wondered what her problem was. Was it honestly just because he wasn't a pure blood? Because not everyone here was, maybe she just needs time to warm up to me Harry thought to himself as he listened to Timur's tale of nearly doing a perfect wronkski feint.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey everyone, here is the new chapter, it took a little longer than I was expecting cause life is so busy at the moment but I hope you all like it! I think it turned out pretty well but let me know **** Thank you to everyone who is following, favouriting and reviewing the story, I appreciate you all! **

**Chapter 9**

Waking up early and going for a fly was soon becoming Harry's new normal morning routine. He loved the feeling of freedom and clarity that it gave him to start his day. As he flew around the pitch, he thought about just how much he was enjoying himself here at Durmstrang. The lessons were interesting and actually useful, the people that he had met were friendly enough and there wasn't even any house rivalries to try to contend with. Here no one knew that he was Harry Potter, here he could just be himself and he revelled in the fact. He logically knew that it was only early days and things could change but he was determined to enjoy himself while things were good and just hope they stayed that way. A laugh escaped his lips as he started doing looped de loops around the pitch the wind whipping his hair around his face. After he had made himself sufficiently dizzy, he wandered back to the castle, a little later than yesterday and found the hall nearly full. He ignored the looks he was getting as he made his way over to his house table, finding a seat between Jasmine and Timur.

"What happened to you Harry? Lose a fight with some devils snare?" Jasmine asked with a snicker.

Harry looked at her confused before Blake elaborated. "Your hair looks like you've been dragged through a pricker bush backwards."

Harry raised his hands to his hair in embarrassment finding it standing out every which way. He was eternally thankful that his famous lightning bolt scar had disappeared when Voldemort had been defeated, wondering how he could've explained that to his new friends. He glanced at the twins as he tried flattening his wayward hair to find them watching him in amusement.

"I guess that's what I get for spending the morning doing loop de loops around the quidditch pitch" Harry said with a small chuckle.

"Well maybe look in a mirror next time before coming to breakfast" Timur said waving his wand and straightening Harry's hair for him.

"Ignore them Harry, I happen to like the windswept look" Blake said with what could nearly be described as a leer on his face.

Harry shot him an amused look before going about dishing up his breakfast, deciding on an omelette this morning. He had only taken his first bite when Hedwig came zooming into the hall and dropped a letter in front of him.

"Oh, thank you Hedwig" Harry said, giving his owl a pat and a piece of bacon before she flew back out of the hall.

He reached for the letter and seeing Viktor's handwriting practically tore it open in his excitement to read it.

_Dear Harry,_

_It was wonderful to hear from you so soon. I must admit that I have found myself at something of a loss without you around to keep me company. I am glad that you are enjoying Durmstrang so far and hopefully making some friends (not that you will have any problems there, who wouldn't want to be your friend). I am only one day back at training and I already feel as though I have been trampled by a hippogriff, it is hard work but luckily, I love it. All the team says to say hi and I was thinking you could invite some friends to come watch a game when the season starts if you like? It's up to you of course, have a think about it. What lessons are you enjoying the most? Mother and father are doing well, though they would probably enjoy a letter from you themselves (hint hint). _

_Anyway, I better go and get some sleep, have to be up early for training again tomorrow. Please write again soon. I miss you Harry._

_Love Viktor._

Harry felt his whole body go warm as he read the letter from Viktor, Viktor missed him. It sounded as if Viktor was missing him as much as he was missing Viktor, the very idea making Harry practically glow and he embarrassingly felt his eyes start to water. He looked up to find everyone nearby staring at him with unreadable expressions on their faces.

"Everything OK Harry?" Roman asked. He had been watching as Harry read his letter and had been captivated by the look of pure joy on the smaller teens face. Harry had been practically glowing with happiness, a smile upon his lips, his eyes sparkling and Roman had found himself unable to look away.

"Oh yes everything is great" Harry said happily. "Just a letter from Viktor telling me how much he is missing me."

Roman looked confused for a moment and shot a look to his brother who was sitting across from him.

"Did you think he wouldn't miss you?" Roman asked trying to properly grasp what he was missing in the situation.

"Well, no one has ever really missed me before. I had hoped that he would, but I wasn't sure" Harry said thoughtfully as he ran his fingers through his hair mussing it up again. "But he actually wrote to tell me how much he is missing me," Harry finished happily going back to reading his letter and missing the looks of shock that passed around the people near him.

Why had no one missed Harry before? Roman wondered to himself and a look at his brother and Timur he knew that they were wondering the same things he was.

Harry continued to read through his letter again, ignoring the conversation around him until he heard the word duelling come up.

"That's right we have duelling today" the green-eyed teen said as he placed his letter carefully in his pocket and joined in the conversation.

Harry knew from Viktor that duelling lessons didn't start until fifth year, so he wasn't worried about being far behind the others.

"First lesson the teacher usually does a duel with each person in class to get a feel for their skill level and areas of strength and weakness, that way he can pair you with people in class that will help you improve" Martin explained. "Just try your best, he won't expect miracles from you."

The other fifth years nodded, thankful for the advice.

Harry made his way back to their common room with the other fifth year boys to collect their school things before making their way halfway across the castle for their first duelling class.

As they walked into the classroom Harry saw it was set out differently to any classroom he had been in before. There was no windows and the floor and walls were covered in padding, Harry assumed to make landing easier if you lost the duel. The teacher at the front of the classroom turned out to be the one who had called him out for his sorting. Harry had thought that he looked the sort you wouldn't cross and seeing as how the man taught duelling he knew he'd made an accurate assumption.

The teacher watched the class as they entered appraising each student as they walked in. There was no tables or chairs in the room, except for at the very back, so the class hovered in a group in the middle. The teacher continued to fix them with a steely gaze, not uttering a word and Harry felt the urge to start fidgeting, but the rest of the class stood still looking unruffled and unphased by the staring, so Harry fought down the urge and stood still.

Eventually the man approached the class.

"Good morning fifth years and welcome to your first duelling lesson, as most of you know I am Professor Byrnes. I'm sure I do not need to tell you how important it is for you to pay attention and follow my instructions in this class." He paused again, his eyes sweeping the room a few times before continuing. "I will be calling you up in alphabetical order so that we may duel. This is merely to assess your knowledge and skill which will then assist me in planning lessons for the year. Are there any questions?"

No one moved or uttered a word so the Professor continued.

"Gemma Almond please come to the front, everyone else please move to the back of the room behind the shield. Do not step out from the shield until I call your name." His gaze swept the room once more before Gemma, a willowy blonde, stepped forward and everyone else retreated behind the safety of the shield. There were seats lined up against the back of the room and Harry took a seat at the front next to Lukas and a girl he hadn't met before.

Harry's eyes were riveted to the front of the room watching as Professor Byrnes showed Gemma how to hold her wand correctly for a duel and the correct stance. He watched amazed as spells started blasting around the room as the pair duelled, it didn't last long before Gemma was on her knees laughing uproariously as she was hit by a tickle jinx.

Harry couldn't hear what was said as Professor Byrnes waved his wand cancelling the spell before stepping forward to help Gemma to her feet, shaking her hand before sending her to the back of the class as he called out the next name.

Harry sat mesmerised as he watched the duels take place, an inner monologue running through his head of what he would do in each situation. He knew his quick reflexes would be his best asset in a duel so he mentally thought of spells he could send quickly while on the move. Harry was impressed with his friend's performances, especially Anders, though he wasn't sure he could count Anders as a friend just yet.

Eventually it was his turn, he stepped forward and knew that the class was paying avid attention. Obviously trying to gauge just how powerful this new student stood amongst them. Lukas gave him a quick squeeze on the shoulder in support, Harry shot him a smile as he stepped out into the classroom.

Professor Byrnes smiled at him and beckoned him forward, and though Harry felt a jingling of nerves he also felt a wave of excitement.

"Welcome Harry," greeted Professor Byrnes in his smooth tenor. "Please move to a duelling stance" the Professor continued and as Harry moved the older man stepped forward and made a few corrections. "Remember not to grip your wand quite so tight Harry, it will make your wand movements stiffer as well as tiring your arm out quicker. Legs a bit further apart and bend your knees slightly this will help you keep your balance if you are struck by a curse. This will give you a much better chance of survival, depending on the curse of course." He finished dryly. Harry nodded in understanding and corrected his stance.

"Now in formal duels we would bow to each other" Professor Byrnes explained as he raised his wand, and Harry was suddenly taken back to the graveyard and the sight of Pettigrew raising his wand and Cedric dying in front of him. A shudder ran through his body and sweat broke out on his forehead.

The Professor stared at him in concern for a moment before continuing. "However, remember in a fight the enemy won't waste time with pleasantries before casting. Also, for the sake of this duel please make sure you only use spells that are non-dangerous."

"Of course," Harry said in understanding as he tried to shake off the memories plaguing him.

"On the count of three Harry, one…two…three!"

Professor Byrnes cast the first spell, but Harry was already moving, casting two expelliarmus' as he dodged out of the way. He dropped to the ground as a spell flew over his head, casting a tripping jinx back that caused the Professor to stumble and gave Harry the time he needed to get back to his feet. The spells were getting harder and faster. Harry was forced to cast a strong protego, a golden arc surrounding him, as two purple lights came flying towards him. He quickly waved the shield away before casting a jelly legs jinx back. The older man dodged it and cast back quickly his wand whipping through the air, a stone gargoyle about the height of Harrys knees appeared and started to make his way closer. Harry was forced to summon an unused chair from the back of the room to smash into the moving statue blasting it to pieces as he threw himself to the side to dodge the next spell. Harry was panting as he stood his magic building up around him and pulsating through the room. But Harry paid it no mind as another spell was soon coming at him again, he cast quickly, and the spells met in the middle creating a small explosion of red light that shook the classroom. He blinked his eyes, slightly blinded from the blast just as he felt a spell hit him in his chest. He felt the tickling sensation start to spread over his body, but he ignored it, squashed it down like he had all the other painful or uncomfortable things that had happened to him in his life. He saw the others honey eyes widen a fraction in surprise. Harry felt his magic pulse around him again shaking the curse off completely but before he could cast again a shield sprung up between them and the Professor was waving his hands in a calming manner.

"I think that is enough Harry, I have been able to gain plenty of knowledge about your skills and abilities from that demonstration, well done."

It was Harry's turn to blink in surprise.

Professor Byrnes stepped towards him as he waved the shield away.

"Take a few deep breaths Harry" he said softly, and Harry was surprised to find himself doing as he was told. He took a deep breath and realised that his heart was still racing, adrenaline coursing through his veins as his magic flowed so thick and free through the classroom it was practically a tangible presence.

"That's it, in and out" he continued in a gentle voice. As he said the words, Professor Byrnes stared at the teen in front of him. Barely 15 but looking as though he belonged in second or third year not fifth. But with so much power the room was practically vibrating under the force of it. Although it was wild and raw, his new student needed to learn to control and how to harness that power and he would soon become a force to be reckoned with. His mind was already running through lesson plans and scenarios to implement for the small teen to help him to reach his potential. The green eyes in front of him were shining with pain and Professor Byrnes wondered what had happened in his young life that he could duel with such ferocity, that he could simply ignore a tickling charm and continue fighting.

Harry took a few more breaths and felt as his heart started to calm, and his magic receded. His hands were clammy as he loosened his grip on his wand trying to get his muscles to relax and realise he wasn't actually fighting for his life at the moment.

He looked up at Professor Byrnes faintly embarrassed, but the duelling professor just smiled at him.

"You did really well Harry, go have a seat now and catch your breath."

Harry just nodded feeling awkward and made his way back to his seat as the next name was called. He felt eyes on him and kept his own focused on the ground. He felt drained now that the adrenaline had left his body and sat quietly in his seat as he let his mind wander. It was only natural he supposed that he wouldn't take a wand being pointed at him very well especially after what happened at the end of the last school year. He had talked extensively with Viktor about it over the summer which had helped him understand and accept his feelings better. He made a mental note to write to Viktor tonight and tell him what had happened. Even just the thought of it made him feel marginally better, it was still a novel experience for him to have someone there for him. Someone he could write to and confide his thoughts and feelings in. As he sat deep in thought he didn't realise that his hand had reached out subconsciously and began rubbing the scar left by the cut Pettigrew had given him.

The students around him sat in shock at what they had just witnessed though they hid it well. Eyes darting surreptitiously to take in the small raven-haired teen before darting away again. The power that had radiated off the Concinne student had been intoxicating and no one could quite believe that the student before them had been the one responsible. But it was not just his power but the way he moved, the way his eyes glowed, burning like green fire as he had duelled that had caught the attention of every student in the class. It spiked many student's curiosity to learn more about the new Durmstrang student. Harry would have sighed in dismay is he knew what many were thinking.

The rest of the day passed in something of a daze for Harry, his new friends noticed his distraction but did not push him for answers. They had some free time before dinner and many students grabbed their brooms and went out flying. They had tried to convince Harry to come out for a fly but he had refused point blank and instead stayed in their dorm room working on some homework. The teen sat crossed legged on his bed, Zima curled up on his lap. Harry was stroking the soft fur and Zima had one eye open watching the other boys in the room carefully.

"Are you sure you don't wish to join us?" Timur asked and though Harry didn't know the other boy well he thought he could hear concern in his voice.

"No, honestly I'm fine thank you. I think I will get started on some of this homework." Harry said with a small smile, though Timur noticed that it did not reach his eyes.

His dormmates left and Harry was relieved that they didn't push the point. It was actually one of the things he liked most about Durmstrang, people respected your boundaries. So very different to Hogwarts. Instead of doing homework however he wrote a letter to Viktor, talking about how much he was enjoying classes but also telling him what had happened in his duelling class today. He felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders just by putting everything into words. He knew that Viktor was one of the few people who could even remotely understand, having been part of the Triwizard tournament himself. After finishing his letter to Viktor, he wrote another to Andon and Anna making sure to go into great detail of all the things he was enjoying about his new school. He shifted the sleeping Zima off his lap and with a sigh of relief, wandered off to post the letter before heading down for dinner, he had his study session in the library with Anders tonight and he didn't want to be late.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Harry wandered into the library after having a quick dinner with his friends. He had only been here once before so was as yet unfamiliar with the layout. He wandered around the stacks of books, getting familiar with the layout of the library until he spotted familiar broad shoulders and blonde hair sitting at a table behind a row of books on herbology.

Harry approached a bit hesitantly and cleared his throat as he sat down opposite Anders.

"Hey" Harry said, and cursed himself for his sudden shyness as he pulled his potion textbook and some parchment out of his bag.

"Hello Harry" Anders replied inclining his head to Harry.

"How has your day been?" Harry asked trying to take a stab at conversation.

"Very well thank you and yours?"

"It's been OK" and a cloud seemed to pass over Harry as he remembered the duelling class today, his eyes darkening slightly and his face losing its open expression.

Anders stared at him for a moment gauging the smaller boy's reaction.

"How are you finding the potions text I gave you?" Anders said in attempt to change the topic, he did not like seeing such a blank expression on the usually bright face. Sure, he had only spoken to Harry once, but since that potions class he had surreptitiously been watching the other teen. He was usually bright and happy, though his eyes told a story that he was familiar with pain and heartache. The older teen had been mesmerised as he watched the younger in duelling class today, he knew that behind the delicate facade that there was undeniable strength. The change of topic seemed to work well, as Harry visibly shook off his negative thoughts and smiled softly.

"It is honestly amazing, I was reading earlier about all the ingredients that go into the wolfsbane potion and how they interact together to make the potion work, it was fascinating."

Anders just nodded at this, familiar with what he was talking about. "Shall we get started then?"

"Sure thing," with that they both read over their assignment. _What is the most useful potion when treating different magical creatures and animals? Why is it useful and what should you be careful of when using it?_

Harry found the topic interesting and liked how it directly related to one of their other subject areas, adding more depth and relevancy to what they were learning.

Anders directed Harry to some relevant information in their textbook but not finding everything they needed they ventured off amongst the shelves to find some books to help.

"The potions texts are this way Harry" Anders said softly, and Harry startled when he felt a large hand at the small of his back guiding him through the library. He found he didn't mind walking with the other boy so much. He was taller than Harry (who wasn't) but only by half a head, so Harry didn't feel quite so short as they walked through the library together.

They had managed to locate some relevant texts and returned to their table, speaking little, but it was a companionable silence, only broken when one found an interesting fact or relevant piece of information.

They had been working for around an hour when a small group of people arrived at the table near theirs. Harry glanced up and saw a group of 3 boys and 2 girls unloading their books and parchment.

Anders glanced at the group before rolling his eyes and going back to the text he was reading.

Harry had come across an interesting passage in his book and stood from his chair leaning across the table to point out the passage to Anders.

"Look at this Anders, it says you must be careful with the draught of eeze as an overdose can lead to paralysis in the creature or animal you are trying to treat" Harry said, pointing out to the relevant part.

Harry was so engrossed in what he was saying that he didn't notice the way Anders eyes travelled slowly up his throat before glancing back down at the book Harry had placed in front of him. However, Harry did notice the sniggering from the table next to them. He looked over at the nearby table to see that the whole table was staring at them. Harry straightened and flushed as he realised they were being watched.

"Ignore them"

Harry glanced at Anders in surprise then understanding lit his green eyes. "Friends of yours?"

"You could say that" Anders said with a small smile. "They were worried about me meeting with the new student so planned to come down halfway through to make sure I was OK."

"Well, that's kinda sweet" Harry said not sure if he should feel insulted or not. "It's nice that you have friends that care about you so much."

"I suppose your right, they can be bothersome sometimes though" he said casting a slight glare at his friends though Harry could see the small smile that lingered around his lips. A brunette girl just stuck her tongue out at him in response and Harry couldn't help the chuckle that burst from his lips.

"Trust me your lucky to have them" Harry said as he gave the other a group a small wave before concentrating back on the book he was reading.

Anders blue eyes narrowed minutely at that statement and took note of the slightly hunched posture of the boy sitting across from him filing the information away for later.

They worked for a while longer before calling it a night and packing up, Anders wandered off to join his friends and Harry was left alone as he packed away his belongings and left the library. He was therefore surprised when he walked out of the library doors to find Anders and his friends waiting for him. The large blonde approached.

"I thought I would walk you to your common room, don't want you wandering the halls alone at night." Anders said seriously.

Green eyes widened a fraction, "oh that's OK Anders I'm sure I will be perfectly fine on my own and besides, I wouldn't want to be a bother."

Before Anders could reply the girl, who had stuck her tongue out earlier stepped forward. "Oh, Anders doesn't mind do you Anders?" she said with a slight smirk.

Anders let out a sigh as if in great exasperation, "these are my friends Annastacia, Carly, Baker, Leif and Sam" he said pointing to each one in turn.

Harry nodded to each, "I'm Harry, it's a pleasure to meet you all." Harry could tell that they were all wanting to ask questions, no doubt about his famous family member, but thankfully they held themselves back.

"Well shall we?" Anders said and started walking towards the Concinne common room Harry at his side and to Harry's surprise Anders friends joining them. The group was all talking and laughing quietly as they walked along and Harry enjoyed the comfortable sounds, they were obviously all good friends. Harry noticed that Anders was probably the quietest of the group, mostly listening and contributing sometimes, but it seemed that when he did talk everyone paused to listen. He walked beside Harry and Harry could admit, even if it was just in his own mind, that he enjoyed the strong presence beside him.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Sirius sat in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place staring at the cup of tea in front of him. It had been nearly a week since the Order meeting, but he knew that they were no closer to locating Harry. Many Order members had been searching all over Great Britain but to no avail, they hadn't found a sign of Harry anywhere. Meanwhile any letter that was wrote to him returned unopened. What did that mean? Was Harry simply sending them back without bothering to read them, was he in a place that prevented mail from being delivered or was it something darker than that? Had he been captured by death eaters still at large or even worse… killed. Sirius shuddered at the thought, no, no, there was no way that Harry was dead. But where was he then and why had he left? Sirius felt the niggling's of guilt starting to worm their way into his heart.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey there everyone, sorry this took so long! My old laptop died and I lost everything, which was very disappointing, and then it took me a while to get a new laptop and find the motivation to start writing the chapter again. Plus, uni has been insane, but semester only has a few weeks left so hopefully I will be able to get out a few chapters during the break. Anyway, here it is, and I hope you all enjoy it. I have been loving reading all the reviews, thank you so much!**

**I as always do not own Harry Potter **

**Chapter 10**

Harry's first few weeks at Durmstrang flew by quicker than he was expecting, before he knew it, he had already been there for over a month. He had been nervous on September 1st, worried that Dumbledore would find some way to find him and drag him back to Hogwarts but thankfully that did not happen. To Harry's great surprise he was happier than he had ever expected to be at Durmstrang. His lessons were interesting and fun, and he had even managed to make a few new friends. Care of Magical Creatures was fast becoming his favourite subject and he was enjoying potions a lot more now that he didn't have Snape as a Professor and he had Anders as a partner. Most people had been friendly and welcoming, although Annika and several of her friends weren't very nice but Harry just learned to ignore them.

Harry had gotten over his shyness and was now flying most afternoons with his friends. They spent their time racing around the castle and having friendly games of quidditch, it was nice to just fly for fun with no pressure of having to try to win matches or anything. Of course, everyone expected that he would be an amazing flyer due to being a Krum and Harry was happy to say he did not disappoint on that point. It still made him laugh when he remembered the look on Roman's face when he dove in front of him and snatched the snitch from under his nose. Luckily Roman didn't seem to mind and cheered along with everyone else. He had decided to try out for his house quidditch team though actually wasn't too worried if he made the team or not.

That morning found Harry hurrying out of the castle and across the grounds to Care of Magical Creatures. It was freezing and he pulled his scarf tighter around his face to stave off the biting wind as he hurried across the lawn. Timur, Roman and Lukas had still been eating breakfast, but Harry was eager to get to class early. He had taken to arriving to class a little early and visiting with some of the animals or helping Professor Boden set up for the days class. He found that he really enjoyed spending time with the different creatures, especially learning to take care of the sick and injured ones. As he walked into the Care of Magical Creatures building, he didn't see Professor Boden anywhere so he wandered over to the nearest stall to see what creature they would be working with that day.

"We are actually going to be heading outside today," a voice spoke behind him.

Harry spun in surprise seeing Professor Boden walking out of a nearby office.

"A nest of Occamy have hatched and we are going to go into the forest to observe them." The Professor explained at the interested look on Harry's face.

"Oh wow," Harry gasped in excitement. "I've never seen one before, I wonder if they are as beautiful as I've heard."

"Oh yes they are quite exquisite" Professor Boden said with a small smile, "and they know it," he chuckled. "Normally I wouldn't recommend going anywhere near a nest of newly hatched Occamy, but we are fortunate that the ones that live around here are quite use to our inquisitive nature."

Harry nodded in understanding before helping Professor Boden pack up the omnioculars to take with them, I guess they didn't want to get to close to the nest Harry thought as he finished packing them into a box and waving his wand so it was following close behind him.

He turned to see a group of students entering the building, they looked familiar but Harry didn't know their names, he gave them a small smile before turning away. Lukas, Roman and Timur joined him not long after and Harry excitedly explained what they were doing for the lesson. He smiled softly as Anders walked in with Axle, watching the pair out of the corner of his eye as the rest of the class started to make their way outside after Professor Boden. Anders looked happy, he had a small smile on his face and Harry knew that was the equivalent of a full-blown grin on the older boy. Harry's eyes swivelled back around to the front as they began to enter the forest, the cold easing a little as they walked amongst the trees. They walked slowly, keeping a watchful eye around them, Harry knew it was relatively safe so close to the school, but still not a good idea to let your guard down. They were walking in silence so as not to scare any nearby animals and Harry found the quiet pleasantly soothing.

Harry felt his excitement mount as they entered a small clearing, trees and bushes all around. Professor Boden gestured for them all to take a seat on the grass as he began to explain the different features of Occamy. His voice was low and gentle as he explained the various ways that Occamy egg shells can be used in potions before handing out the omnioculars and indicating towards a bush on the far side of the small clearing. Harry raised his up to his eyes and swivelled the knobs until he found what he was looking for; the Occamy and they were just as beautiful as he had read. Their scales shimmered brightly in the sunlight that filtered through the bush, blue's and greens that reminded Harry of the ocean. Harry counted three hatchlings in the nest, they were small, only about as big as his hand but already moving around, their purple wings fluttering softly behind them.

"Wow, aren't they beautiful" Harry whispered to Roman who was sitting next to him.

Roman just nodded to transfixed by the sight before him to respond.

Professor Boden didn't try to talk or teach them as they watched, the class just sat in silence basking in the moment. It was a nice feeling. After about 15 minutes of watching one of the adult Occamy ventured further out into the clearing and Harry put down his omniocculars as they were no longer needed. The Occamy started slithering back and forth in the clearing, making intricate patterns, sometimes using its wings to flutter off the ground before landing softly again. Harry gave a bemused smirk as he heard Professor Boden mutter "show off" under his breath.

Harry was shocked into stillness when he heard a hissing reply, "well look at me, of courssse I'm going to show off."

In all that had happened Harry had completely forgotten about his ability to talk to snakes, it hadn't even crossed his mind when he'd head what animal they were studying today.

This was bad, Harry Potter was the only known Parseltongue in the world, so he definitely had to keep this ability a secret, which turned out to be easier said than done as the snake started a running diatribe comparing it's beauty to people in the class.

"Look at that horrible horrible hair, it can't even compare with the beauty of my scales… none of them even have wings, how mundane."

Harry clamped his hand over his mouth to stop a snort of laughter bursting out, ignoring the look of confusion Roman shot him.

The Occamy was quite funny, maybe he could try to come back another time on his own and have a chat with the self-absorbed creature.

The class returned to the Care of Magical Creatures building not long after and were set the task of sketching the Occamy while Professor Boden explained everything of importance about the creature.

Harry jerked in surprise as a soft voice sounded over his shoulder, "that's a beautiful drawing Harry." Harry turned to see Anders had moved and was now sitting beside him.

"Oh, thank you." Harry said shyly looking down at his drawing. "It's got nothing on Timur's though, he should consider a career as a professional artist with the way he can draw."

Anders chuckled dryly, "I know, he has been showing everyone up for years."

"Well let me see yours then" Harry quipped, and Anders turned his parchment around to show a drawing just as beautiful as Timur's.

Harry's eyes widened in surprise, "I think that might be even more beautiful than Timur's," Harry said quietly as he reached out and gently traced a scale with his finger.

He glanced at Anders to see a faint hint of pink gracing his cheeks.

They started packing away their things, chatting as they made their way to charms together. They arrived at the classroom and Harry went to walk away to find a seat with one of the twins or Timur like usual, when he felt a warm hand land on his shoulder. He turned in surprise to see Anders right behind him.

Harry stared at him for a moment, confusion marring his features. What was Anders doing?

"I was wondering if you would like to sit with me today Harry?" Anders asked, a questioning look in his eye.

Harry hesitated a moment before responding with a soft smile, "sure, that would be great" Anders felt his heart flutter at the sight.

Harry followed Anders to a table at the back, thinking. They had never sat together before outside of potions. They had grown closer though since their first meeting, regularly chatting after class and still spending Thursday nights together studying. He was actually becoming closer to Anders than to anyone else at the castle, so it was with a small smile that he took his seat beside Anders and waited for the lesson to begin.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

It soon became the norm for Harry and Anders to sit together in most of their classes. It wasn't unusual for people of other houses to sit together but still it gained some unwanted attention. Mostly in the form of gentle ribbing from Roman, Lukas and Timur at night in their dorm. But they let up after a while, after they'd had time to get use to the sight.

Harry for his part found that he quite liked sitting next to Anders, the other boy was smart and always happy to help with anything that Harry didn't understand. He also had quite a snarky sense of humour that Harry found he really enjoyed.

That afternoon found Harry out flying with Anders, Axle, Roman and Lukas. It was freezing cold so there wasn't as many people flying as normal, after about 30 minutes Harry began to understand why, his hands were numb, his face felt frozen and he was finding it difficult to breathe due to the cold. Even though it was still only Autumn it was a lot colder than he was used to. He angled his broom down and landed roughly, the others landing around him.

"Alright there Harry?" Lukas asked in concern as he climbed off his broom.

"Yeah, all good, just a bit cold, think I will head back inside now." Harry explained through chattering teeth.

Anders frowned, "I will walk you back up Harry."

Harry just nodded, to cold to say much else as they trudged back to the castle.

"You are so petite Harry, it probably isn't a good idea for you to be out flying in this kind of weather."

Harry frowned at the word petite, but his brain couldn't seem to come up with an acceptable response, frozen as it was from the cold.

He felt something heavy settle over his shoulders and looked up to see Anders wrapping his own cloak around Harry shoulders.

"Oh, Anders don't do that, then you will get cold." Harry tried to argue but Anders wasn't having a bar of it, tying the cloak securely around Harry's slender neck and wrapping it around him securely.

"Oh, be quiet Harry, do you want to freeze to death" Anders mumbled.

Harry immediately felt the difference, the warmth of Anders cloak settling into him. He breathed a sigh of relief and glanced up at Anders to see that he was already watching at him, a look in his eye that Harry couldn't quite interpret.

"Thank you" Harry said shyly, and Anders just nodded in response guiding Harry quickly back to the castle and into the warmth.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

The next morning Harry woke with a throbbing head and felt as though his throat was on fire. He rolled over in bed groaning, his muscles aching at the movement. He tried to pull himself up but was struck by a wave of dizziness and collapsed back into bed with another groan. The curtains around his bed were pulled back and Lukas stuck his head in.

"Ok there Harry?"

"No, I feel terrible" Harry moaned piteously. It was not often that he got sick but when he did it was usually quite severe.

Harry felt a cool hand against his head, "you're burning up, I better go and get the nurse."

With that Lukas was gone and Harry, unable to keep his eyes open any longer drifted off to sleep again.

He awoke a little while later to a severe looking woman standing over him.

She looming over him frowning as she helped him to sit up a little.

"Here you go young man, drink this." She forced a small bottle to his mouth and poured it in before he could protest. Harry spluttered as the liquid went down.

"You are running a high ever and will need to stay in bed and rest for the next few days." The woman said sternly. Harry tried to concentrate on her face but found his vision swimming. "I've just given you a fever reducer mixed with a mild pain-relieving potion, you will need to take another before bed so I will come back and check on you again then. Your teachers will be notified that you won't be attending classes." With that the school nurse cast a spell on him, Harry assumed to monitor his condition, before sweeping out of the room.

Harry sunk back down into the bed weariness claiming him once again.

Timur, Lukas and Roman had been watching the interaction and looked at Harry as he drifted back to sleep. The small teen looked terrible, face flushed, sweat gleaming on his brow as he stirred restlessly.

"I'd say flying in the cold yesterday has caused this," Roman said softly, gently pushing Harry's sweaty hair off his forehead.

"His body isn't used to the cold weather here, we will have to make sure he takes better care of himself," Timur said thoughtfully. "We better get going, we will come back and check on him at lunch time, bring him something to eat.

The other boys nodded before pulling the curtains shut around Harry's bed and letting him rest.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Anders walked into potions feeling a tingle of excitement run through him at the thought of seeing Harry again, though none of his feelings showed on his face. He sat at his usual desk and waited. However, the class started with no sign of Harry. He saw Timur, Roman and Lukas sitting at their usual desks and wondered where Harry was. His gut clench uncomfortably at the thought that something might be wrong with Harry. He found it difficult to concentrate as he diced his slugs and threw them in his potion.

He waited, but Harry didn't show up to the next class either. He made his way to Roman after class, trying to appear casual but failing miserably.

"Hey Anders, anything I can help you with" Roman smirked, as though he didn't know exactly why Anders had approached him.

Anders blue eyes narrowed slightly. "Harry, where is he? He hasn't been in class all morning and I just wanted to make sure he is ok."

"He is actually ill," Roman explained. "Probably from flying out in the cold yesterday. The nurse has been to see him and given him a fever reducer, but he will be in bed resting for the next few days."

Anders brow furrowed in concern.

"We are going to visit him at lunch if you would like to see him," Timur put in politely from his place at Romans side.

Anders nodded, feeling thankful that Timur had made the offer.

"OK, well we'll meet you near the hall doors at the start of lunch. We will grab some food to take down to Harry."

"Thank you" Anders said sincerely before walking off, his pace slow and measured as though forcing himself not to rush.

Timur looked at the twins a little awkwardly. "You don't think Harry will mind that we invited Anders down to see him do you?"

"Nah those to are thick as thieves, if anything he will probably be glad that Anders cared enough to visit" Roman responded, not worried at all.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

At the start of lunch, the four met in the entry to the hall, each had a plate of food in their hands. Anders silently followed the others to their common room. All the other students were in the hall having lunch so there was no one to think it odd Anders heading to the Concinne common room. He had actually never been there before, but he knew that the common rooms of all the houses were similar.

They entered the dormitory to find that Harry's drapes were still pulled shut around his bed and the room was quiet. Lukas pulled it open to find Harry tossing and turning restlessly in his sleep. He didn't look any better than this morning, but he thankfully didn't look any worse either.

Lukas grabbed a narrow shoulder and shook it gently, feeling the heat that was still radiating from the smaller teen. "Wake up Harry, we've brought lunch."

Harry let out a soft snort as he woke and green eyes blearily began to blink open, he looked around in confusion.

Anders was standing to the back of the group but could see Harry clearly and couldn't help to think how beautiful he looked sprawled out on the bed, cheeks flushed. He silently groan and mentally chided himself for being a thoughtless creep. His friend was laying in bed sick; it definitely wasn't the right time to be ogling him.

Harry tried to push himself into a sitting position, his arms straining with the effort, he was obviously still feeling weak. Anders rushed to the side of the bed, gently taking Harry under the arms and helping him sit, propping a few pillows behind his back to make sure the younger was comfortable.

Harry turned when he felt the strong arms grip and pull him upwards. "Anders" he squeaked embarrassingly, surprised to see the blonde.

Anders looked unsure for a moment. "I, ah hope it's OK that I'm here Harry. I just wanted to make sure you were ok, but I can leave if you like?

"No!" Harry said a bit to quickly, grabbing Anders hand. "I mean, no it's fine, you can stay."

Anders stared at Harry intently for a few seconds, obviously judging the sincerity of the words before nodding. He leant over and picked up his plate of food from where he had sat it at the end of the bed. He sat beside Harry and offered him some food off his plate. The blonde had purposefully chosen light food that would be easy on Harry's stomach. The other boys pulled up chairs and sat around quietly eating.

"So, have I missed anything in class this morning?" Harry asked after he finished nibbling on a sandwich square, sinking a little further into the bed as weariness started creeping up on him again.

"Nah, nothing important" Roman said nonchalantly as he took a big bite of his sandwich.

Timur merely shook his head.

"Oh good, I would've hated to miss something important" Harry said sleepily. He struggled in vain to keep his eyes open as they kept trying to drift shut. His hand drifted to his side, dazedly running over the soft material of his blanket, not realising that he was actually tracing the soft material of Anders pants.

Anders caught the confused hand in his own, running his fingers over the palm soothingly as Harry coasted off to sleep again.

They called a house elf to clear away the finished plates of food before tucking Harry back into bed and leaving for their afternoon classes.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

It took 3 days before Harry was feeling well enough to return to classes. Luckily, he had plenty of visitors to keep him company during that time. Timur, Roman and Lukas brought him lunch every day and Anders brought him dinner. They explained that he could've called a house elf to do it but they wanted to spend time with him. Harry had been touched when he heard their explanation. Sam, Axle and Anastacia visited often as well, bring him notes from classes and catching him up on anything that he had missed during the day. Anders often stayed for a while after dinner, sometimes they talked, sometimes Anders would read to him. It turned out Anders had quite a soft spot for adventure novels and Harry would often fall asleep to the sound of Anders soothing baritone. The school had owled Viktor, Andon and Anna to let them know Harry was sick. They sent a talking get well card and a huge box of sweets to cheer him up, which Harry happily shared with all his friends.

When Harry walked into the hall for breakfast on the fourth day after he had fallen ill, thankfully nearly back to normal, he couldn't help but shoot a bright smile to Anders and Anastacia as he saw them watching him from the Atticus table.

Anders blue eyes scanned him critically as though assessing for himself that Harry was really well enough to be back in classes.

Harry blushed a little at the look of concern before smiling again and walking to his usual seat at his table.

He started buttering some toast after he poured himself a glass of juice.

"Harry!" Martin and Blake cried as they saw him sit down.

"Finally, up and about again" grinned Martin. "Glad you're feeling better."

"Thanks for keeping me company while I was sick" Harry said with a warm smile at the pair, "I'm so lucky to have so many wonderful friends here."

Blake and Martin looked touched by the sentiment before they began regaling Harry with a tale of Martin falling in Hippogriff dung during their Care of Magical Creatures class yesterday afternoon.

Harry laughed in amusement, "well that at least explains the weird smell when you both visited yesterday."

"Oi, I do not smell" Martin said indignantly as he surreptitiously leant down to sniff himself.

"Of course, not" Harry said with a grin that left no doubt as to what he was really thinking. Green eyes dancing with amusement as Martin huffed.

Just as Harry was about to reach for another piece of toast, an owl dropped a letter on the plate in front of him.

He started reaching for it assuming it was from Viktor when the handwriting caught his eye. His heart started to beat faster as he looked closer and realised just who's handwriting it was. _Hermione._

He jumped up from the table, mind boggling, blood draining from his face and fear curdling in his stomach like acid. He thought he heard someone calling his name, but he couldn't hear anything properly through the rushing sound filling his ears. Not even thinking he pulled his wand and blasted the letter, leaving nothing but ashes behind and leaving a scorch mark on the table. The force of the spell knocking him backwards over his chair. He fell heavily on the cold stone floor but didn't stop to think about the pain as he stumbled to his feet. By now the whole hall was watching him, but Harry took none of it in as he fled from the hall.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey there everyone, another chapter is here **** This one is a little shorter than usual though, but I hope you all enjoy it. I am going on holidays next week for a few weeks so wont be posting then but I will try to get another chapter out next week before I leave. Thank you to everyone who is reading the story and liking it, I love reading all the comments **

**As always, I do not own Harry Potter**

**Chapter 11**

Harry burst out of the doors to the hall, his pulse racing and his mind wild. He ran but he had no destination in mind, just trying to put distance between himself and his panic. As if that was even possible. He tried to remind himself that even if he had been found that he was still safe, they couldn't force him to return. Logically he knew he was a Krum now and nothing would change that, but logic didn't seem to be holding much sway at the moment. His breath started to come in short gasps as he kept running and panic threatened to overwhelm him. He heard voices behind him but kept moving, rushing up a flight of stairs and hurrying down a corridor. He wasn't sure how long he ran for; he just knew that he had to keep moving. As the adrenalin of the moment started to fade, he felt his body begin to tire and lag, the voices behind him growing louder.

Harry felt large hands and thick arms wrap around his body and he panicked for a moment, arms and legs flailing, before a soothing voice sounds in his ear.

"Shh Harry, it's Ok, it's just Anders."

Harry felt his body relax at the words and the strong arms around him began to feel comforting instead of constricting. He turned to face Anders, seeing the blue eyes furrowed in concern before slumping into Anders chest, the adrenalin fading and weariness claiming him. Anders wrapped his arms around the slimmer form, pulling him in close and muttering nonsensical soothing words in Harry's ear. He cards his fingers through Harry's dark locks as Harry starts to get his breathing under control again. Harry closes his eyes and presses his face in closer to Anders chest, breathing the scent that is purely Anders and letting it calm him. He feels a hand rub small circles on his back and uses the feeling to focus his breathing until he feels calm enough to pull away. Anders doesn't let him move far though, keeping a strong grip around his back and waist.

Harry turned and saw some of his other friends waiting behind Anders, watching him in concern. His cheeks flush and he began to feel embarrassed about his outburst in the middle of the hall. The whole school was probably wondering what the hell was happening.

A thumb traced over Harry's jawline, drawing green eyes back to blue.

"What happened back there Harry? Are you OK?" Anders asked and Harry felt his chest warm at the worry that laced the words. Letting it pierce and calm his mind further.

"I… I'm fine, I just need to talk to Viktor" Harry stammered, and Anders looked down at him in disbelief.

"You are not fine Harry" Anders nearly growled blue eyes flashing dangerously. "Who was that letter from and why are you so upset?"

This was a side of Anders that Harry had never seen before. Normally the older student was so calm, like nothing in the world fazed him, but he certainly seemed fazed now. Harry had the crazy desire to confess everything, tell Anders who he was. He fought the urge down viciously before responding.

He decided on a half-truth. "It was just from someone I wasn't expecting to hear from, that's all." Harry explained nervously licking his lips.

"Someone who scares you" Anders surmised, and Harry swallowed thickly. It wasn't so much that Hermione scared him, more what the letter represented. That he had been found, that they might try to force him back, when he desperately wanted to stay. Anders took Harry's silence as confirmation and pulled Harry back into his arms.

"I need to talk to Viktor" Harry repeated, not noticing Martin hurry off at his words.

This time Anders didn't say anything, just nodded and with an arm wrapped around Harry's waist began to lead him away.

Harry tried to give a reassuring smile to Lukas, Roman, Timur, Blake and Anastacia as he passed them, but it felt like it came out as more of a grimace.

Harry looked around as they walked, he hadn't realised he had run so far.

"Where are we going?" he asked quietly after a few minutes of walking.

"To the Headmaster of course, he will be able to contact Viktor for you."

Harry knew if he was thinking clearly that would have been an obvious deduction to make and blamed his panic for not thinking of it himself. They walked until they came to a large wooden door that Harry had never been to before, he was surprised again when Martin opened the door and walked out just as they were approaching.

"Martin went ahead to let the Headmaster know what was happening" Anders murmured in Harry's ear.

"Thank you, Martin," Harry said sincerely as they passed, Martin gripped his shoulder quickly, in a show of silent support for his new friend, as Harry and Anders entered the Headmasters office.

Headmaster Akulov was waiting for them, gesturing to a pair of seats in front of his desk. Harry took a moment to look around the room thinking it reminded him more of the fake Professor Moody's office than Professor Dumbledore's.

"I hear you wish to speak to Viktor, Harry" Headmaster Akulov stated, fixing Harry with a firm gaze.

"Yes, yes it's very important that I speak to him."

"I have already contacted Viktor as well as Anna and Andon, they will be here shortly, I have opened the floo to allow them through. I assume this is to do with what happened at breakfast?"

Before Harry could respond the floo flared and Viktor, Andon and Anna strode through.

Harry leapt from his seat and ran to Viktor, embracing him as Viktor wrapped him in a firm hug.

"What's wrong Harry?" Viktor asked urgently, he didn't know what was happening just that Harry needed him. Andon and Anna approached, gripping Harrys shoulder and looking confused.

"What's going on Harry?" Andon asked.

Harry took a moment, burying his face in Viktor's chest. Viktor was surprised, Harry rarely initiated so much physical contact, he must really be upset.

"Can we speak privately please?" Harry said quietly and Viktor nodded.

"Excuse us for a moment" Andon said politely to Anders and Professor Akulov before waving his wand and casting a privacy spell around the four.

Anders looked on in surprise as Harry stood with Viktor and what must be their parents, having a conversation he could no longer hear. He was only just realising how little he actually knew about Harry. He knew he was Harry Krum, but actually had no idea how he was related to the Krums. He had known of Viktor when he had attended school here but had never heard tale of a younger brother. And if he was Viktor's younger brother where had he been all these years? Who had the letter been from and why had it upset Harry so much? Anders had seen Harry's face when the letter arrived, and he had looked terrified. He didn't like the idea of anyone or anything scaring Harry that much. The thought made an unpleasant feeling curl in Anders stomach.

Andon turned back around after casting the privacy spell, effectively blocking most of Harry from sight.

"Now what is going on Harry?" he asked again, concern colouring his tone.

"I… I got a letter from Hermione" Harry explained. "And I just freaked out, I was worried that they had found me. That they were going to try to force me back or something." He finished, looking so completely lost that Viktor wrapped his arms around the younger teen again.

They all looked concerned at Harry's words.

"Do you remember who the letter was addressed to? Harry Potter or Harry Krum or just Harry?"

Harry thought for a moment trying to remember, "I think it just said Harry."

Andon nodded, "It could just be that she got lucky, that it made it to you was a fluke. When you started here, we had Headmaster Akulov cast wards to ensure that only letters from blood relatives would make it to you, it's actually not an unusual request here at Durmstrang. We will get the Headmaster to check the wards and make sure they aren't fading."

"It could just be a combination of the wards failing and the fact Hermione wasn't specific when she addressed the letter that it made it to you," Anna continued.

"Also remember Harry even if they do find you, they cannot force you anywhere" Viktor said soothingly. "You are a Krum, a member of our family, now and forever, and there is nothing they can do to change that."

Harry just nodded feeling his body go lax in relief against Viktor. They were right, of course they were right.

"I know you're right, I just am so happy here, here at Durmstrang, here with you all and I don't want anything to risk that. I'm sorry you had to come all the way here for this" Harry said quietly, feeling a bit foolish now.

"Not at all Harry, we will always come whenever you need us" Anna said, taking Harry's face in her hands and rubbing along his cheek bones gently. Harry leaned in, relishing in the gentle touch.

Andon waved his wand and the spell surrounding them dropped, the four turning to face the room again.

Headmaster Akulov was watching them critically, while Anders was just staring intently at Harry. Harry blushed lightly at the intense stare and Viktor raised a questioning eyebrow at him dark eyes lighting in amusement.

"I'm sorry about my outburst at breakfast Headmaster" Harry said frankly, eyes glancing away. "Everything is OK."

"We will need you to check and renew the wards that you have set up for Harry to ensure that no more post is getting through," Andon explained.

The Headmaster nodded in understanding, "is there a threat to Harry or the school?"

Andon shook his head in the negative, "not at present."

"Very well."

Viktor turned and hugged Harry again, "we have to get going now, will you be alright?"

"I will make sure he's OK" Anders said gruffly, coming to stand next to Harry.

The Krum's eyed the blonde boy suspiciously and Anders suddenly felt like a bug under a microscope. He stood tall though eyeing them back until Viktor suddenly smirked and looked away. Anders let out a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding as Harry hugged Andon and Anna goodbye and they stepped into the fireplace.

Harry turned around to thank the Headmaster after his family had left, only to find the man already looking at Harry.

"If something like this happens again Harry, don't panic just come straight here and see me, OK? I will be able to help." Headmaster Akulov explained.

Harry looked at the man, wondering once more how he got the scars on his face. "Thank you, Headmaster, I will," Harry said before following Anders out into the hall.

Anders kept close to Harry's side as they walked down the hall. The green-eyed teen felt better but was still a bit shaken from all the adrenaline.

"Did you want to talk about it Harry?" Anders asked softly, curious but not wanting to push if Harry didn't want to talk.

"I… No… but thank you Anders" Harry said glancing at Anders before looking away.

Anders just nodded as though he has been expecting the answer. "Would you like to spend the day with me? It's the weekend so we could relax in the Atticus common room, or work on some homework in my dorms. I don't know if you really feel like being around many people at the moment."

Harry was touched by the thoughtfulness of the offer; he actually didn't feel like being around many people at the moment. Dealing with their questions and inquiring looks. He knew he would have to deal with it soon but didn't feel quite up to it right now.

"That actually sounds great" Harry said, and Anders was relieved see a small smile grace Harry's lips.

They walked along in silence until they came to a large door, entering Harry found a room similar to his own common room. It was reassuring in it's familiarity. The room was mostly empty but those who were there turned to stare at Harry and Anders as they entered.

Harry felt a firm hand against his back guiding him to a door he assumed led to the fifth-year boys dormitory. Harry let out a sigh of relief finding it completely empty.

Anders led Harry over to his bed and they both sat down. Harry beginning to feel awkward thinking about the fact that he was in Anders dorm sitting on his bed.

Anders scratched his hand over his neck, looking unsure for the first time that morning. "If you like I could keep reading to you?" Anders enquired. "If I remember rightly, we were right at the part where Sid had been kidnapped."

Harry's face brightened considerably at this, "oh yes, they've taken his wand and everything, how is he going to get away?" Harry wondered as he laid back on the bed getting comfortable.

Anders chuckled, opening the drawer next to his bed and pulling out the book he had been reading to Harry while he had been sick. He laid back on the bed next to Harry and began to read.

"_Sid blinked, trying to clear the haze from his eyes as he looked around the small room, they were holding him in…"_

Harry curled on his side letting the words wash over him, not thinking about anything except the soothing sounds as they eased him into a weary sleep.

Anders looked over at the first snort, to see Harry fast asleep on his pillow. Seeing the smaller teen in his bed was doing strange things to him and Anders felt a wave of possessiveness roll through him.

He sat the book down not wanting to read more without Harry and picked up his defence text to do some reading for their next class. Harry shifted slightly beside him, snuggling closer to Anders warmth in his sleep, his face coming to rest on Anders shoulder.

They had been there around an hour when the door burst open and Axel, Leif and Baker walked in. They stopped in surprise at the sight before them, Anders laying in bed, with Harry fast asleep beside him.

Leif raised an eyebrow, smirking at Anders. "Don't let us interrupt Anders."

The blonde just rolled his eyes at his friends.

The boys walked in and sprawled on their own beds.

"Is he OK?" Axel asked. "Everyone saw what happened in the hall this morning."

"He's OK" Anders said looking down at the black-haired teen beside him, running a hand through the soft locks. "He didn't tell me what it was all about, but he was scared. Terrified actually, of whoever sent him the letter. I think there's much more to Harry then he is telling us."

Axel looked at the pair speculatively "so what are we going to do about it?"

"Nothing" said Anders seriously. "Except making sure that whatever Harry is so scared of has no chance of harming him."

The others nodded in agreement looking thoughtful.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

At Hogwarts, Neville sat with Luna in the library working on their Herbology homework. They had a table to themselves, both preferring the others company over anyone else's. It was nearly Christmas and still neither of them had heard a word from Harry. They were admittedly worried. Dumbledore had announced at the start of the year that Harry was away enjoying some much-needed rest after Voldemort's defeat, but they weren't sure if they believed him. For one, if Dumbledore knew where Harry was then why was he checking periodically if they had heard from him? There had also been no word of when Harry was expected to return to school. Ron and Hermione were acting oddly as well. The year had started with Ron telling everyone who would listen about his plans to join the Auror's while Hermione listed all the changes she would make at the ministry when she started working there. But over the last month or so they had become more subdued, less cocky and more unsure. It also seemed that neither of them had heard from Harry either, well they hadn't seen Hedwig deliver any post to them anyway. The Ravenclaw and Gryffindor both hoped that wherever Harry was he was happier than he had been at Hogwarts.


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey everyone! Hope you have all been well **** here is the next chapter, hope you enjoy it!**

**I do not own Harry Potter**

**Chapter 12**

Harry awoke early like usual but didn't get up to go flying. It was now getting to cold to be out flying early in the morning. The icy wind nipping into skin turning fingers numb and cheeks red. After getting sick he decided that it would be best to avoid flying in extreme temperatures again. It was actually the cold weather that made him reconsider his decision to try out for his house quidditch team. As much as he loved flying he just wasn't as invested in playing for his house team at Durmstrang as he had been at Hogwarts. Harry wondered if it was because he came in late and so didn't feel quite as enthusiastic or if it was more that he was enjoying everything else at Durmstrang so quidditch didn't seem quite so important. At Hogwarts quidditch had been a shining light amongst dangerous mysteries and Voldemort attacks. Now he felt safer, anonymous, and though he still loved quidditch it just didn't hold the same appeal. He knew Timor, Lukas and Roman would be disappointed he had decided not to try out, but really there was an abundance of great players at Durmstrang, the team would be amazing with or without him on it. So instead of getting up to go flying he snuggled down further into the warmth of his bed, Zima spread against his side purring gently. He could hear the other boys in the room starting to stir but chose to ignore them for the moment. That is until his bed hangings were pulled back, Harry rolled over blinking slowly, to find Roman looking down at him.

"Up you get sleeping beauty, don't want to be late for breakfast."

Harry groaned groggily and tried to burrow further into his blankets. Yelping as they were unceremoniously pulled from him, the cold air biting at any exposed skin it could reach. Green eyes narrowed in a glare at Roman but found Timur standing beside him holding the blankets with a grin. Before Harry can do any more than grumble Zima jumped from his place on the floor where he had landed when the blankets were tugged off and sank his claws into Timur's chest. Timur let out a howl in surprise swinging around trying to dislodge the angry animal but Zima wasn't letting go. Sinking his claws in even deeper. Lukas and Roman's laughter followed the other teen around the room, who was twisting and turning while trying to pull the angry kneazle off his chest.

"Harry help!" Timur cried, ignoring the way Harry's laughter had now joined with that of Lukas and Roman's.

With one last chortle Harry stood up. "Zima, that's enough now."

Zima turned and looked at Harry for a moment, claws dragging slightly down Timur's chest before dropping silently to the floor and strolling off. Harry was still laughing but he stood up to inspect Timur's chest, making sure that Zima hadn't actually done any damage.

"Maybe that will teach you not to disturb us when we're sleeping" Harry said with a smirk, satisfied that Timur wasn't badly injured.

Harry wandered off for a shower leaving Lukas and Roman teasing Timur.

Unfortunately, Harry's good mood didn't manage to last long.

They had potions first period. Harry had come to really enjoy potions now he was at Durmstrang, he felt like he finally understood what Snape had been spouting about in his first potions lesson. Potions could do amazing things. Harry paused for a moment to reflect on the fact that he actually agreed with Snape about something. Suppressing a shudder at the thought, he walked into potions and spotted Anders at their usual desk, a bright smile breaking out on his face as he spotted the other teen. Harry took his seat next to Anders and if it was closer than perhaps was usual neither of them said a thing. Anders just leaning over slightly so his arm was brushing against Harry's, Harry wasn't sure if Anders was even aware, he was doing it, but each movement sent little shivers running though Harry's body. Harry and Anders had grown closer since Harry's illness and the incident with Hermione's letter, Anders had really been there for him and it left Harry with a soft warm feeling in his chest. It also left him considering the rapidly approaching holiday season. Christmas was coming and Harry had decided that he wanted to get Anders a present, though he had no idea just what at the moment.

Someone clearing their throat brought Harry back to the present and stopped his musings about Christmas gifts. Harry looked up to find their potions professor ready to begin. Their potions professor was a stern man though never unkind, with a commanding presence that made the whole class stop and listen whenever he spoke. Today they were brewing a blood replenishing potion, and those that were good enough would be used in the medical wing. Harry liked the idea that his potions would actually be used for something useful. Harry and Anders set to work on their potion, Anders slicing ingredients today and Harry adding and stirring when appropriate. It was the first time that he would be the one in charge of the potion and Harry was determined to do a good job. Determined to show Anders just how much he had improved and make the blonde proud of him. Anders stood beside him measuring out the ingredients they would need. Not even watching as Harry added them. Harry knew it was Anders way of showing that he trusted Harry and it made the Concinne student all warm thinking about it. He tried to ignore the twinge of guilt he felt when he realised that perhaps that trust was misguided, after all Harry was keeping quite a few secrets from Anders. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind as he picked up the salamander blood and poured it into their cauldron. He was just preparing to start stirring when something landed in their cauldron with a small plop. If Harry hadn't been staring straight at the potion, he would have missed it completely. As he continued to stare the potion began to bubble and hiss. Anders looked up from the flubberworm mucus he was measuring, blue eyes widening in surprise. The cauldron began to splutter more frantically and before Harry could even think what to do Anders was shoving him out of the way just as the cauldron exploded. Harry fell backwards, hitting the ground hard some potion hitting his hand causing it to blister painfully. Harry's eyes widened in horror as the potion exploded all over Anders, covering his face and burning away some of his robes. His skin started to blister as he dropped to his knees groaning in pain and Harry's heart wrenched painfully at the sound. He rushed to Anders side his hands fluttering uselessly over the burned skin just as Professor Maine dropped to Anders other side, wand raised and casting furiously, the burned skin already starting to lesson though still looking incredibly painful.

Harry took a deep breath as he realised that Anders was going to be OK and as the panic began to fade it was replaced by another emotion… anger, no not just anger – rage, at whoever had dared to do this to Anders. His hands curled into fists at his side, pain raced up his arm where his hand burned but he let the pain fuel him, fuel his rage. He stood looking calm, missing the potions professor sending his patronus to call the school nurse. Green eyes flashed, seeming to burn as Harry surveyed the class. Taking in the sight of the students all staring frozen in shock at the scene before them. Harry had been at Durmstrang several months and this was the first time he had ever seen or heard of an incident in potions, they were very strict on this sort of thing.

"Who did it?" he asked, voice icy, eyes travelling the room.

"WHO DID IT!?" Harry yelled this time, causing several students to jump in surprise. His magic responded to his raging emotions, lashing out and several vials lined along the walls exploded, sickly purple liquid running down the walls. "WHO THREW SOMETHING IN OUR CAULDRON!?"

Harry eyed the class steadily; Professor Maine stood next to him and gazed around the class as well. Harry glanced down at Anders to see him resting on the floor, the Professor must have given him something for the pain.

"Is this true? Did someone throw something into another students cauldron?"

The class stood stoically in the face of their potion master's anger, a few twitching nervously.

A voice sounded from the back of the room; it was an Atticus student that Harry didn't recognise.

"It was Annika" the voice spoke up sounding sure. "I saw her throw something in the cauldron when Anders back was turned.

Harry spun so quickly to look at Annika that he suffered a moment of dizziness before he refocused his rage on the girl in front of him. The girl who for some reason had decided she didn't like him from the moment he had arrived at Durmstrang but had now taken her dislike too far and now Anders was injured. Harry's magic lashed out pushing Annika across the room and pinning her to the wall. He started walking across the room toward her when he felt a firm hand grip his shoulder. Harry glanced back seeing Professor Maine standing beside him.

"Enough Harry, I know you are upset but go with Anders to the medical wing. I will deal with Miss Florence" he finished sternly.

Harry took a moment to rein in his anger, drawing in a few deep breaths as he felt himself regain his control. He nodded once before walking back over to Anders. The school nurse was beside the blonde, magicing the teen onto a stretcher and directing it toward the medical wing. Harry grabbed Anders large hand with his own and followed next to the stretcher, green eyes watching in concern as he traced small circles onto the others palm. Anders didn't stir as the nurse placed him onto a soft bed and pulled the blankets up and tucked them under Anders chin.

"He will be OK" she said softly, "he just needs some rest. There is a cream that he will need to rub into his skin for the next week or so, but I will discuss that with him when he awakes."

Harry nodded in understanding, "thank you" he murmured as he sat on a chair content to just sit and watch. Gently smoothing the blankets over Anders even thought they were already neat.

He ignored the throbbing pain in his own hand, focused instead on Anders.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

Harry awoke to the feeling of a hand running through his hair, it was so comforting that he laid still letting himself enjoy the moment. He tilted his head a little leaning into the touch and heard a small chuckle from beside him. It took him a moment to come to himself, blinking slowly as he sat up.

Anders watched as bright green eyes blinked awake, Harry sat up look adorably confused and sleep mussed. Anders just wanted to pull the smaller teen into his side and hold him tight, he resisted the urge though only narrowly.

Harry looked around confused for a moment before realising where he was. The medical ward! Anders! Not realising what he was doing Harry moved to the edge of Anders bed, sitting beside him as he took Anders face in his hands.

"You're awake," Harry said relieved. "How are you feeling?" Harry asked turning Anders face from side to side and running his fingers through the soft blonde hair, as if to reassure himself that Anders was really OK.

"I'm OK." Anders replied, looking at Harry his heart beating loudly in his chest at Harry's close proximity. "Just a bit sore and tired. What happened?"

"What happened is, Annika threw something into our cauldron causing an explosion and you, idiot that you are, pushed me out of the way and got injured yourself!" Harry said anger taking over again now that he knew that Anders was OK.

Anders blinked in surprise at the onslaught from the slight teen in front of him.

"Well, I couldn't let _you_ get injured" Anders said, his brow crinkling in confusion.

Harry looked at him in exasperation, "of course you could have! That would've been much better than you getting injured you idiot."

Anders lips quirked at the insult; Harry was the idiot if he thought that Anders would ever let anything happen to him.

"You will never do anything like that ever again" Harry commanded sternly, but Anders didn't reply just made a non-committal noise in the back of his throat before turning to look at the school nurse who had just walked over.

"Ah Mr Lind, it is good to see that you are awake and from the argument I just heard, doing much better."

Anders just nodded, smirking at the pout on Harry's face. Harry made to move off the side of the bed and back to the chair when a pair of sharp eyes swung to him, pinning him to the spot.

"Mr Krum, what is that on your hand?"

Harry looked down and gulped, having forgot about the burn to his hand in all the commotion. Now that he remembered it though the pain came back ten-fold and he groaned softly.

"I… ah, was burnt by the potion as well" Harry said sheepishly, ignoring Anders intense gaze.

"And you did not think to mention it to me earlier? You must be in a large amount of pain."

Harry just shrugged, "I actually forgot about it to be honest, I was so worried about Anders."

The nurse made a clucking sound before hurrying off to collect some potions, muttering the whole time about irresponsible students.

With nurse Baxter gone Harry had no choice but to turn and look at Anders, he could feel the intense blue eyes practically boring a hole in the side of his head. He turned to find Anders glaring at him, and Harry gulped slightly at the look.

"You will never let an injury go untreated" and it was Anders turn to look stern. "I don't care what is happening around you, I especially don't care what is happening to me, you will put your welfare first. Do you understand me?" It was said with such conviction, with such surety that Harry just nodded even if he knew it probably wouldn't hold true. He was so used to putting others welfare above his own that it almost seemed like a foreign concept to put himself first. Anders face darkened as he seemed to understand what Harry was thinking and his hands crept out to take Harry's injured one in his own. Rubbing around the sore skin gently.

Nurse Baxter returned shortly and took Harry's hand into her own, waving her wand to heal the broken skin before forcing a pain potion down his throat. Harry sighed as the tension left his body, he hadn't even realised just how tense he had been feeling until the pain potion took eased his discomfort.

She then handed both teens a jar filled with a light-yellow cream; you will need to rub this onto any affected area for the next one to two weeks. I will see you back here in a fortnight for a check up to see how you are healing." Both teens nodded in understanding.

"Well off with you then," she snapped. "I want you both to take it easy the rest of the day though."

Harry and Anders both jumped to their feet and left the medical wing. They walked in silence until they reached the turn off for the Atticus common room.

Harry was reluctant to leave Ander's side, but refrained from saying as much, just standing awkwardly as he looked at the slightly taller teen.

"I'll see you later Harry," Anders said softly before turning and walking away. Harry stared for a moment before realising what he was doing and hurried off.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

Anders walked into his common room slowly, feeling better but still sore, his skin feeling like it was stretched to tightly over his bones. Every head in the common room snapped around when he walked in and he was soon inundated with people. It was nearly dinner time, so the common room was unusually full.

"Anders! Are you OK?" Anastacia asked, the first one to reach him.

"I'm OK" Anders said simply as Anastacia's brow furrowed in concern. "Honestly I'm OK, Nurse Baxter fixed me up like new." He didn't elaborate about the pain he was still in, that was private and not something to be discussed with the whole house.

Most of the students began to wander back to what they were doing, reassured that Anders was OK. While the large blonde made his way over to a group of armchairs and sat with his friends.

"Are you really OK?" Axel asked as they sat on the brown leather together.

"I am" Anders nodded. "What happened though? I don't remember much."

Anastacia leaned in, launching into an explanation. "Well it turns out that Annika threw something in yours and Harry's cauldron."

Anders nodded, Harry had told him this, but it was still a surprise. Attacks like this were rare at Durmstrang. Occasionally fights would break out in the halls, but classrooms were strictly off limits, with serious consequences to anyone who broke the rules.

"Harry said as much" Anders said gruffly. "I don't understand why she would so something like that though."

"Apparently her and Harry don't get along, we think her goal was to injure Harry, maybe scare him away" Baker explained. Anders hands clenched in anger at the idea of anyone hurting Harry.

"You should have seen your little Concinne student when you got injured though" Axel continued with a smirk.

Anders looked up, momentarily distracted from his anger at the teasing words.

"He was so angry; I've never seen anything like it. Half the class was close to wetting themselves in fear; me included!" Axel said with a chuckle.

"His magic was so strong, it engulphed the whole classroom. When he found out Annika had thrown something into your cauldron, I was honestly worried the classroom might crumble down around us or something." Carly said.

Anders looked back at his friends in surprise, Harry had been that upset that he had been injured.

"All I can say is he must really care about you."

Anders blushed lightly at the words and Anastacia and Axel started to cackle in glee.

"It looks like the feeling might be mutual" Anastacia laughed as she elbowed Anders.

Anders just rolled his eyes with a huff, not bothering to answer. Though the idea that Harry cared so much about him cause a small smile to grace his lips.

"What happened to Annika?"

"She was sent to the Headmaster. I head her parents were called in as well. A Concinne student told me that she has been barred from quidditch for the whole year and she has to serve detention for the next two months."

"Good" Anders said seriously, "though it will be much worse for her then that if she tries to harm Harry again."

His friends just nodded before turning the conversation to other matters.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

Meanwhile, Harry decided to head straight to the hall for dinner. It was nearly dinner time and he knew his friends would be along shortly. He sat at his table as the hall filled around him, ignoring the looks some of the other students were sending his way. He saw Anders walk in with Axel and Harry's eyes ran over the other, making sure that he was feeling OK. Their eyes met and Anders sent him a small smile before sitting with his friends. Blake and Martin entered not long after and rushed over to Harry.

"We heard what happened in potions today Harry, are you OK?" Martin asked.

"Oh, yes I'm fine. It was Anders who was injured."

"I still can't believe Annika would do something like that" Blake said in disbelief as he sat down. "The whole house is furious with her."

As the rest of his friends entered Harry tuned out the conversation, thinking about Annika. He had no idea what he had possibly done to make her so mad at him, but he decided it was time to find out. He had not been sorted into Gryffindor at Hogwarts for nothing.

"Do any of you know where Annika is serving her detention tonight?" Harry interrupted.

Timur looked thoughtful for a moment. "I believe tonight she is in the kitchens washing all the dinner dishes by hand," grimacing as though it was the worst possible punishment there was.

"You aren't going to do anything stupid are you Harry?" Blake asked in concern.

Harry didn't answer, continuing to eat his dinner and ignoring the look his friends shared. Something stupid, was quite relative after all.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

Harry lingered over dinner, waving goodbye to his friends as they left casting him suspicious looks. He ate slowly until nearly everyone else had left the hall, he then got up and wandered off towards the kitchen. The kitchens weren't hidden here like they were at Hogwarts, every student knew where they were and were welcome to get food any time, they were hungry, though Harry had never been. He entered the kitchen and looked around. He saw house elves everywhere and what looked like a large buffet to the right of the door, piled with all different types of food. A house elf hurried over to him.

"Is young master still hungry?" it asked in the usual squeaky voice, dragging Harry toward the buffet.

"No, no, I'm actually looking for a student serving detention here" Harry explained. Looking around the room for Annika.

The house elf nodded solemnly. "Naughty Miss is over there" the small elf said pointing across the kitchen to a massive sink piled high with dirty dishes.

Harry freed his hand from the elfs grasp and made his way over, clearing his throat when he was standing behind Annika. Who startled at the noise, spinning around to see who was behind her and spilling soapy dish water all down the front of her.

"What are you doing here?" Annika snarled at Harry; eyes narrowed.

Harry just sighed, determined to keep a hold of his temper. "Quite frankly, I want to know what the hell your problem is?" Harry bit out.

"What?" she asked, momentarily confused.

"You heard me; I want to know what on earth your problem with me is? I hardly know you, have barely spoken to you and yet you seem to hate me. I want to know why."

The other Concinne student seemed to puff up more at Harry's words. "That's none of your bloody business" she hissed weaving a finger in Harry's face.

"I believe it became my business when you started trying to hurt me and actually hurt my friends because of your dislike for me."

At his words Annika seemed to deflate slightly. "I didn't mean for Anders to get hurt; I didn't realise that the reaction would be so bad. I thought it would just ruin your potion."

Harry frowned at her words, "and that makes what you did ok? Look I don't want conflict, I have had enough of that to last me a lifetime. What. Is. Your. Problem. With. Me?"

Annika looked as if she was debating with herself for a moment before finally answering, "I don't trust you."

"So, your answer to mistrusting me isn't to get to know me but to instead bully me? That makes perfect sense" Harry said with a roll of his eyes.

"It's not just that" Annika snapped. "You come in and with no effort make friends with all of my friends, everyone loves you. You swan around happy and smiling at everyone and having study dates with Anders, even the Atticus students like you, it's all so infuriating!"

Harry looked at her in shock for a few moments, it sounded as though Annika was jealous of him.

"Well people might like you a bit more if you weren't quite so horrible all the time" Harry said delicately. Annika just snorted at him.

"Its not that I want everyone to like me, it's just I don't understand how they can all trust you so readily. We don't even know anything about you."

Harry nodded in understanding; it was true after all.

"I get that you don't trust me, I'm not asking you to trust me. But can we at least try to tone down the open hostility? I promise that I am not here to hurt anyone." Harry said solemnly.

Annika eyed him carefully for a few moments, reading the sincerity that shone from Harry.

"Fine" she said with a sigh. "But I swear if you hurt any of my friend's I will make you regret it."

Harry swallowed heavily at her words, not doubting her for a moment. "Same goes for you" he replied. Annika nodded in understanding and Harry was happy to note that she looked remorseful.

He turned and left the kitchen feeling much happier.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey everyone, latest chapter here. A bit of a shorter one, as its a bit of an interlude chapter setting up for future chapters but I hope you all still enjoy it **** Thanks so much for reading!**

**As always I do not own Harry Potter**

**Chapter 13**

Christmas was approaching and Neville roamed the halls of Hogwarts, enjoying the festive atmosphere that had permeated the castle. He often found himself on his own nowadays or with Luna, his best friend. They had grown especially close over the last few months and Neville was thankful for the clever Ravenclaws presence in his life, even if she was a little unusual sometimes. As he walked Neville once more found his thoughts wandering to Harry. He hadn't seen or heard anything from his friend in months and the Gryffindor could admit, despite Dumbledore's reassurances, that he was worried about the other teen. Neville knew that Harry had been feeling down at the end of the last school year and honestly, he didn't blame him, what with everything that happened with the Triwizard Tournament and Cedric and then the aftermath, it was no wonder Harry hadn't been happy. Neville felt terrible, he knew that Harry hadn't been coping but had failed to do anything to help his friend. Believing that someone else, Ron or Hermione, even Dumbledore would do it, he could see now that that faith had been a mistake. He knew something was going on, something that both Ron and Hermione were aware of, and he was determined to find out what it was. So, he ambled along the corridor looking out windows at the snow falling beyond, while at the same time watching Ron and Hermione, who were walking in front of him, out of the corner of his eye. The pair were walking along, heads together while they whispered furiously. The two were so involved in their conversation they didn't notice as Neville gradually made his way closer.

"The Order will be here soon; they will be able to tell us if they have discovered anything new." Hermione said quietly, a pleading tone to her voice.

"That's even if they decide to tell us, it's been months Hermione, do you really think that they haven't discovered anything about where Harry is in that time. I think they know where he is but are refusing to tell us!" Ron argued back petulantly.

Hermione sighed like this was an argument she had heard before; she muttered the password to the stone gargoyle before they disappeared up the winding staircase to Dumbledore's office.

Neville paused as his fellow Gryffindors vanished from sight, processing what he had just heard. Harry was missing… Harry was missing.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

Ron and Hermione entered Dumbledore's office to find it full of Order members. Remus and Sirius sat in chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk, but Ron ignored them in favour of hurrying over to his parents who were standing in front of the fireplace with Bill.

Dumbledore stood, his long white beard trailing over his desk, a particularly grave expression on his face.

"There has still been no word from nor sign of Harry" Dumbledore said heavily.

Ron made a derisive noise at this statement.

"Sirius is now working with the Aurors and has been using their resources to track known death eaters."

At this Sirius stood and addressed the room. "The Aurors have been tracking several known death eaters, we've made a few arrests but so far there has been no sign of Harry with any of them. I've interviewed them and none of them admitted having taken Harry or knowing someone who had. Honestly they all looked confused when I asked about Harry's whereabouts." Sirius said all this in a detached sort of voice, his face looked haggard and dark circles hung under his eyes. "I think it's time that we look at the possibility that Harry was not taken by death eaters." Sirius cast a glance at Snape, Snape had done his own digging into known death eaters and had been saying for months that they had nothing to do with Harry's disappearance. But Sirius wouldn't believe him, convinced that Snape was deliberately trying to mislead them. Months wasted.

"If death eaters didn't take him, then what's happened to him? Where is Harry?" Hermione asked, her brown eyes travelling around the room looking at all the adults assembled.

"Where indeed" muttered Snape.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

As winter rolled in and the days got shorter Harry was thankful for whatever magic kept the castle relatively warm even as the weather outside turned frigid.

Harry lay sprawled on a lounge in the Concinne common room, he was curled into Roman's side reading through his transfiguration book. Tomorrow was the day they were going to start working on the animagus transformations. Only one transfiguration lesson, a week was dedicated to their animagus transformation, up until now it had been used to read their textbook or to concentrate on perfecting their meditation techniques. But, tomorrow, they were going to take their first steps to transforming. Harry had spoken to Blake and Martin and they had explained not to expect anything straight away, these things take time if they happen at all. After all, not everyone can do the transformation, but Harry was still excited to try.

Roman rolled over slightly, moving his leg so that it rested over Harry's own. It was funny how comfortable he had gotten with his friends over the last few months. It also seemed that snuggling with friends was a more common occurrence here than it had been at Hogwarts. Perhaps cause of the cold weather, Harry mused. He wasn't complaining though, after going nearly his whole life with little to no affection it felt nice to have people willingly touching him. Maybe his friends had picked up on that because it wasn't unusual for one of them to pull him into their arms or against their sides at varying times of the day.

Harry looked around the common room and saw Annika sitting by herself studying. It had been over a week since the potion's catastrophe, but Annika was still being ostracised by the whole house because of her actions. Sabotaging another student's potion was just not done, especially someone from your own house, the fact that he had ended up injured as well just made everything worse. Harry let out a small sigh, he was going to have to do something about that. He obviously wasn't Annika's biggest fan, but she had promised not to do anything like it again and had even apologised to both Harry and Anders. Anders had glared daggers at her the whole time, but still she had done it. Harry had too much experience being ostracised himself not to feel for her.

Harry pushed the thought out of his mind for the moment, preferring to concentrate on his work for transfiguration for tomorrow. He was so engrossed that he didn't notice he had gained an audience until a voice called out, "visitors for you, Harry."

Harry looked up surprised to see Anders and Axel walking into the room. A bright smile broke over his face as it always did when he saw Anders. The other teen didn't look to happy though, eyes narrowed as he looked at Harry. Harry wasn't sure what the problem was but quickly disentangled himself from Roman as he stood from the lounge to greet his friends.

He walked around the lounge stretching as he went, trying to put some feeling back into his limbs after laying immobile for so long.

"Hey Anders, Axel, what brings you here?" Harry asked happily, seemingly oblivious to Anders dark mood.

Axel cast Anders a sharp look when he didn't reply, before replying himself. "We were just preparing for transfiguration tomorrow and thought we would come and see how you lot were getting along?"

Harry nodded in understanding, "we've just been reading over our books as well. I'm so excited, I wonder what kind of animal I'll be?"

"Could be anything" Axel responded, "it's usually an animal that represents you or that you have some kind of affinity for. But I wouldn't expect a transformation any time soon, it took my brother until the last week of the school year to finally transform" Axel laughed.

"Viktor said the same thing, I have a bet with him that I will be able to do it quicker than he did."

Axel laughed, "even more motivation to learn, hey."

Harry nodded, leading them over to the lounges he and his friends were sitting on. "Come sit down, we can all study together."

Harry somehow found himself on his previous lounge sandwiched between Anders and Axel, Roman having moved over next to his brother. Harry quickly made himself comfortable, burrowing into Anders side and putting his feet in Axel's lap. He missed the surprised look the pair sent each other. Lukas started laughing at the sight.

"You will have to excuse Harry; he is very affectionate and doesn't believe in personal space."

Harry pouted at this, "hey, you try going your whole life without a friendly touch, of course I'm not going to knock back cuddles when they come my way."

The group froze at his words, it took Harry a moment to realise what he had said before he gasped, his hand flying up to cover his mouth.

"What do you mean by that Harry?" Anders asked quietly.

"Didn't the Krum's hug you when you were little?" asked Blake.

"What? Of - of course, they did, I was just joking." Harry said, trying to pass for nonchalant but it was hard to miss the way his eyes darted around the room and the nervous tremor of his hands.

The group shared a look, they weren't stupid, Krum had been at the school for years with no mention of a brother so there were obviously secrets surrounding Harrys past. They all decided not to push it though, Harry would tell them when he was ready.

Harry started to shift uncomfortably, "look if you don't like me being so close, I can move, no big deal." He said as he made to start standing up, but Anders large arm wrapped securely around Harry's waist and pulled him back down firmly, settling Harry onto the lounge beside him and pulling him into his side.

"I never said I didn't like you being this close" Anders said quietly, and Harry stopped his squirming to look up into startlingly blue eyes. "If you like cuddles, I am more than happy to provide them" this he said with a slight smirk before opening up his own transfiguration book and starting to read.

Harry sat frozen for a moment, struggling to process what had just happened. He cursed himself for letting something like that slip, but gradually relaxed and went back to his own reading. Letting the heat radiating off Anders warm and comfort him.

None of them noticed that across the room Annika was watching Harry closely.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

It seemed that after that night Anders took every opportunity presented to touch Harry, warm hands on his back guiding him through the halls as they walked to class, a strong arm wrapped around his shoulders as they sat together in the library studying, he had even gone so far as to hold Harry's hand firmly within his own as they walked across the lawns to Care of Magical Creatures. It was very comforting and sweet but slowly driving Harry insane. He knew that Anders was only being a good friend, trying to give Harry what he thinks Harry needs, but Harry couldn't help but hope that the touches could mean as much to Anders as they had come to mean to Harry. Because, Harry could no longer deny to himself that what he felt for Anders went far beyond friendship. He thought about Anders all the time and felt happier when the other was around. He would do anything to see Anders smile and the thought of any harm coming to the other teen put Harry in a mood so dark the only one who could draw him out of it was Anders himself. He knew he was being ridiculous, that there was no way that Anders could feel the same way about him, but that didn't stop the longing that was building up inside of him. Sometimes when Anders wrapped his arm around him it was all Harry could do not to climb into his lap and see if those lips were really as soft as they looked.

He shook himself out of that particular daydream and refocused on the conversation going on around him. With only two weeks to go, all talk had turned to Christmas.

All students at Durmstrang stayed at school over Christmas and there was no Hogsmeade to go shopping in but there was plenty of owl order catalogues laying around to order presents from. There were no classes for 10 days over Christmas and New Years and Harry was looking forward to the break and the chance to relax with his friends.

Harry flicked through the catalogue in front of him as he listened to Roman and Lukas argue over a present for their mother. He knew he would have to start ordering soon if he wanted everything to be delivered before Christmas. He had already booked a holiday to Sweden for two weeks over the summer for his family, that just left presents for his friends and for Anders.

He spent the next few hours pouring through catalogues until he was satisfied with what he had ordered. It was mostly quidditch supplies or books for his friends, but he knew they would appreciate it. Anders had been a lot harder; he had finally come to a decision, but he just wasn't sure if Anders would like it. He chewed his lip nervously then pushed the thought away determined not to overthink it, well try not to anyway. He gave Hedwig one last pat before she took off with his orders before making his way over to Annika. He sat down beside her, ignoring the look of surprise that flashed across her face.

"Harry?"

"Hey, how's the Christmas shopping going?" Harry asked pleasantly ignoring the eyes of nearly everyone in the common room watching them.

"Ah, good thanks. Just tyring to find something for my little sister, she is 10 and a bit of a nutter," Annika said fondly, and Harry smiled softly at the tone.

"How about I help you look then?" Harry asked before picking up a catalogue and starting to flick through it. His plan wasn't anything brilliant, he just figured if everyone saw that he had forgiven Annika and was talking to her again maybe they would as well. He was surprised when he actually spent a pleasant 20 minutes helping Annika pick a present, before they decided on The Encyclopedia of Ugly Animals. It contained images and information about the ugliest animals in the world both magical and non-magical, Annika said her sister would love it.

"What was that about?" Timur asked curiously, frowning as Harry walked back over to his friends.

"Just figured she'd been punished enough" Harry said with a slight shrug, ignoring the raised eyebrows aimed at him.

Harry was pleased to see that his plan was working though, he had spent some more time with Annika and over the next week and noticed that people were starting to talk to and sit with her again, he let out a sigh of relief that things were getting back to normal.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey everyone, just wanted to say a big thank you for all the reviews, I love reading them **** Also thank you to everyone who has followed or favourited the story. It really helps motivate me to write! I'm thinking this story will be wrapping up in the next few chapters, I have an ending in mind and we are nearly there, so I hope you enjoy the last few chapters. If you have read any of my other stories, please comment and let me know which WIP you want me to start working on next. Thanks for all the support, hope you like the latest chapter **

**Chapter 14**

Harry was excited! Christmas break was here, all the presents he had ordered had arrived and he had spent the afternoon studiously wrapping them all by hand. His friends had all made fun of him for this, wondering why he didn't use magic to wrap the presents but Harry had had a lot of fun sprawled on his bed with Zima, the curtains pulled tight as he wrapped all the gifts. A relaxed atmosphere had permeated the castle now that winter break was here. Their teachers were even kind enough to not give out any homework that had to be completed over break, stating that everyone needed a rest, them included. Harry found that he couldn't agree more and was looking forward to the break from classes and schoolwork.

The castle had been decorated beautifully, with huge trees lining the halls and mistletoe and icicles hanging from the roof. Harry had learned quickly to avoid the mistletoe, as anyone could request a kiss if you were caught standing under one. You could of course refuse the kiss, but it seemed doing so was tantamount to a declaration that you were in love with someone else. Harry decided to try to avoid that whole walking catastrophe if he could. Although, he had nearly laughed himself silly when Lukas had been caught under some mistletoe by an eager third year. Lukas had given the enamoured girl a swift kiss on the lips before hightailing it out of there, cheeks burning.

Harry was now making his way outside in the bitterly cold weather at the behest of Professor Boden. The man had gotten in two injured hippogriffs and desperately needed help to clean and bind their wounds. Because of the stubborn nature of hippogriffs, they did not take well to wands being pointed at them, so the wounds could only be cleaned and cared for by people that the hippogriffs trusted. Harry was beyond flattered that he had been the student that Professor Boden had asked for assistance, though come to think of it Professor Boden probably knew that Harry was one of the few students who would be really excited by a task like this. He made his way across the lawn until he arrived at the Care of Magical Creatures building. He walked around the back to the holding pens, for animals to large or unwilling to enter the building. It was here he found Professor Boden already hard at work on one of the hippogriffs. The hippogriff was beautiful, the feathers a soft golden colour, a pair of silvery eyes closely watching Harry's approach.

Harry didn't wait to be instructed just bowed deeply to the hippogriff, head bowed and waiting to see if the hippogriff would bow in return and allow his approach. After what seemed like ages, though was probably only a few minutes the hippogriff bowed and Harry was able to come closer.

"Good afternoon Harry" Professor Boden said brightly. "I'm sorry to have you out in this weather, but you were the best choice to help with a task like this."

Harry blushed lightly at the praise.

"There's actually no place I'd rather be" Harry said truthfully, and Professor Boden smiled happily at him.

"Well that's good, because we may be out here a few hours."

Harry nodded seriously as he moved closer to the hippogriff, running his fingers along the soft feathers and earning a gentle trill from the injured animal.

"It seems that these two got in a bit of a fight, over a female no doubt," Professor Boden said with a fond smile on his face, like he was talking about his little brother and not a large and dangerous creature.

"I'm going to need you to continue cleaning the wounds on this fella here with the solution in that bucket," he said, indicating a silver tub at his feet.

"I will start assessing the injuries on the other hippogriff, he hasn't gotten up since arriving so I fear he may be a bit more severely injured."

Harry looked around the hippogriff in front of him to see another a few stalls down. This one a little smaller and with chestnut colored feathers. He was laying on his side, but his head was up and eyes open and alert.

Harry bent down picking up the clean flannel, dipped in the solution before starting to clean the hippogriffs wounds. There was a lot, some just small scrapes but others were deep and still dripping blood sluggishly. The hippogriff flinch slightly as Harry was cleaning a particularly deep cut.

"Well, this is what you get for fighting Mr," Harry muttered with a chuckle, feeling little remorse for the disgruntled animal.

The hippogriff snorted but continued to stay still as Harry worked.

Harry was amazed to see that as he cleaned, whatever was in the potion was magically healing the wounds. It was very clever magic. He would have to do some research into the potion when he got back to the castle, maybe Anders will want to help, Harry thought to himself as he watched a large cut seal shut.

It took over an hour to get all the cuts and scrapes sufficiently cleaned. Harry realised that the healing magic in the potion wouldn't start unless the wounds were thoroughly cleaned. He glanced up to see Professor Boden still working on the other hippogriff, who was now standing at least. Harry shivered a little in the cold and decided to keep busy by brushing out the hippogriffs feathers, which were all skew whiffed after his fight. It was soothing work and Harry let his mind wander, not noticing when Professor Boden approached him.

"Great work Harry" Professor Boden exclaimed happily, "he looks as good as new! I will keep them both here for a few more days to make sure they are OK before releasing them back into the forest."

"Haha, I doubt you will be able to keep them here that long Sir. This one looks like he's already planning his escape" Harry said cheekily pointing to the hippogriff closest to them, who was indeed eyeing the nearby forest with undisguised longing.

"He'll stay if he knows what good for him" Professor Boden said seriously, eyeing the troublesome hippogriff who promptly turned its back on them. Harry chuckled lightly at the display.

Ah, there's actually something else I wanted to discuss with you Harry if you had a moment?" Professor Boden asked, and Harry was surprised to note that he sounded nervous.

"Sure" said Harry. "Though do you mind if we go inside, I'm starting to get a bit chilly."

Professor Boden nodded, leading Harry back inside the Care of Magical Creatures building.

He hesitated before speaking again and Harry began to feel a bit nervous himself. Had he done something wrong? Had the Professor worked out who he was?

"So, I've noticed that you seem to have a real passion for Care of Magical Creatures."

Harry wasn't sure what to say to that, so he just nodded.

"Now I know you are only in fifth year, but Professors here are allowed to take on an apprentice if they feel that they have a student who is showing particular skill and interest in their subject. It doesn't happen often and I myself have never taken on one, but I thought to offer the role to you if you are interested?"

Harry gaped in surprise, his mouth hanging open. Not once had anyone ever told him that he was good at something other than quidditch and Defence Against the Dark Arts, but here was Professor Boden who thought that Harry had such potential in Care of Magical Creatures that he wanted to offer him an apprenticeship!

As Harry continued to stand mute, Professor Boden rushed to explain. "What it would basically mean is you would become like an assistant to me. It wouldn't change any of your studies here at Durmstrang, but it would mean that quite a bit of your spare time would be here with me learning everything there is to know about the care of magical and non-magical creatures. It would continue for the duration of your time at Durmstrang and upon graduation you would be granted admission to any magical university to complete your degree in magical zoology. So obviously this would only be of interest to you if you are considering such a career path."

Professor Boden paused here, looking expectantly at Harry.

Harry cleared his throat. "To be quite honest Sir, I hadn't given it a lot of thought, but I would be lying if I said that I wasn't interested in becoming your apprentice. I love both magical and non- magical creatures and I reckon a career working with them would make me happy. Do you mind if I have a day or two to think about it though?"

"Of course, not Harry, it is quite an important decision. Please let me know by the end of winter break though."

Harry nodded seriously, "thank you Sir, I will." With that Harry left the building and headed back towards the castle in a daze. Him a magic zoologist, he had never thought about it as a career path but the idea of it made him very happy. He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't realise he had walked under a piece of mistletoe until a firm hand wrapped around his wrist pulling him to a stop. Harry blinked a few times, clearing his thoughts to look up into the face of a grinning Lukas.

"Uh ah Harry, you're not getting away so quickly. You've been caught under mistletoe, so that means it's time to give me a kiss." He raised his eyebrows and gave Harry his best shit eating grin and Harry just knew this was pay back for laughing at him earlier with the third year.

Harry groaned and rubbed his free hand over his face. "You can't be serious" Harry hissed, aware of the growing crowd around them. He felt himself start to blush as he realised that Anders was there with all his friends watching.

"Oh, very serious Harry."

Harry was torn, he knew it wasn't a big deal but there was a part of him that wanted his first kiss to mean something, to be with someone that he liked, possibly even loved. It was even more difficult with Anders standing there watching everything with narrowed eyes.

"Come on Harry, what's the big deal? Unless there's someone else you would rather be kissing?" Lukas said with a knowing smirk and Harry silently cursed his meddling friends.

He swallowed thickly, throwing another quick glance at Anders.

He felt his heart start racing with what he was about to do. Throwing caution to the wind he pushed past Lukas walking the few steps to Anders. Blue eyes widened in surprise at Harry's approach and he hesitated for just a moment before throwing his arms around Anders neck and pressing their lips together. He could hear catcalls around him but ignored them in favour of focusing on the lips under his. It took him a few moments to realise that Anders was not responding in any way, standing rigidly against Harry. Shame and humiliation flooded through Harry's body so quickly he felt dizzy from it and he felt his face flush a burning crimson. Anders didn't want him. He pulled back so quickly he stumbled slightly before righting himself.

"Sorry" Harry mumbled unable to meet Anders gaze, feeling his own eyes start to burn. He blinked away the tears before taking off at a run, away from the crowd of people and away from Anders.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

Anders stood still, shock still coursing through is body. Harry had kissed him – Harry had kissed him! He could still feel Harry's soft lips against his own, the warmth of his smaller body seeped into his skin where they had touched.

A sharp whack to his shoulder brought him out of his haze, and he turned to see Axel staring at him.

"What the hell was that mate?" Axel asked in a confused voice.

"Harry kissed me" Anders said stupidly, feeling like he was struggling to string to words together.

"Yeah, I bloody saw that mate, why didn't you kiss him back?"

"Huh?" Anders asked his brow furrowing in confusion.

Axel let out an exasperated sigh before he was unceremoniously shoved out of the way by Anastacia who gripped his shoulders and gave him a hard shake.

"Pay attention you dimwit" she griped. "Why didn't you kiss Harry back? You've been pining over the boy for months and he gets up the nerve to kiss you and you just stand there like a stunned niffler."

Anders gave his head another shake, clearing the last of the haze from his mind. It was then that his actions caught up with him.

"I didn't kiss Harry back."

"No – No you didn't. You didn't respond in any way," Anastacia said gently. "I thought the poor boy was going to cry" she said, and Anders could hear the worry in her voice. She may not have known Harry that long, but she still cared about him a lot.

Anders hit his forehead in exasperation. "I didn't kiss him back!"

"That's what we've been saying!" Anastacia and Axel both shouted at him.

"He's going to think I don't like him. Oh, poor Harry he must feel so humiliated. I have to go and find him."

"We'll check our common room and dormitory" Lukas and Roman piped up from behind him.

Anders nodded in appreciation before hurrying away to check the hall first.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

Meanwhile Harry had found himself back down at the Care of Magical Creatures building. He was currently hiding in one of the stalls petting a baby mooncalf. He knew Professor Boden was around, but the Professor was busy and pretending that he didn't notice Harry's red face and tears when he arrived; for which Harry was eternally grateful. He sat on the ground forlornly, playing the moment over and over again in his head. He wasn't sure how long he had been sitting there when he heard the door open and a set of footsteps rushed in.

"Harry, Harry are you here?" Anders voice called out. Harry shrunk further into the stall not making a sound, hoping Anders would just leave. Which he did, after having a quick look around. Harry let out a sigh of relief as the door closed behind Anders and felt himself relaxing against the back of the stall, the mooncalf climbing into his lap.

He wasn't mad at Anders; it wasn't the older teens fault that he wasn't interested in Harry in that way. But he just didn't feel he could face the other teen yet. If he was honest, he was mostly just mad at himself, for thinking that he had had a chance with Anders. He just hoped that he hadn't done irreparable damage to their friendship. The thought made him sick to his stomach and he couldn't stop a small tear from escaping. He knew he was being silly, realistically Harry knew that Anders hadn't given any indication that he liked him in that way. Harry had just let all the gentle touches and hugs lure him into getting his hopes up.

He sat there for a while longer before he felt brave enough to venture back up to the castle. It was well past dinner so he knew that most people would have returned to their common rooms by now and he was unlikely to encounter anyone in the halls. He didn't think he could deal with people's amusement, or worse, their pity right now. He had decided while sitting and feeling sorry for himself, that he would apologise to Anders first thing tomorrow morning, and just hope that their friendship could be saved. With that decided he felt a little calmer as he made his way into his common room. The common room went quiet as he walked in and Harry felt himself blushing again. He knew people must be looking at him – must've heard what had happened this afternoon. He kept his head down and ignored Roman as he called out to him, rushing into the fifth-year boys' dormitory and closing the door behind him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he just wanted to crawl into bed and forget this day had ever happened. The problem with that was that when he opened his eyes again and started walking toward his bed, someone was already sitting on it.

Anders. Of course, Anders was in his dorm waiting for him. One of the other boys must have let him in.

Harry looks at the other teen, seeing the intense blue eyes focused on him, he glanced down, embarrassed all over again. He dithered around the door for a moment before slowly walking further into the room. Closer to Anders. Anders watches him closely, eyes tracking his every movement.

"Hey" Harry says, and curses himself when he voices comes out as a croak.

Anders just raises an eyebrow at him before standing from the bed and slowly making his way to Harry. His blue eyes are tracing Harry's face, taking note of the bags and redness of his eyes.

Anders is standing right in front of him and Harry is about to open his mouth and start with the apology, when the other teen practically throws himself at Harry. Strong arms wrap around Harry's chest and waist as Anders pulls him close.

"I'm so sorry Harry" Anders says, and Harry just stares in surprise, wasn't that supposed to be his line?

Before he can process exactly what's happening warm lips are being firmly pressed against his own, and Harry closes his eyes in pleasure as warmth starts to seep through his whole body.

Anders is kissing him! Harry reciprocates eagerly, lips moving against each other and tongues darting out to taste the others mouth. Harry moans quietly as he feels himself pressed against the door and Anders tongue is pushed more insistently into his mouth. He's not even sure how they made it over to the door, he just knows that he loves the feeling of Anders body pressed against his own. Anders pulls back for air, resting his forehead against Harry's as they both try to catch their breath.

"I thought you didn't like me?" Harry asked slightly confused, trying to think now that some blood is managing to make its way back to his brain.

"Of course, I like you Harry" Anders exclaims fiercely, pulling Harry tight against him again. "How could I not, sweet and kind and strong as you are, how could I not like you? You – you just took me by surprise earlier when you kissed me, kinda left me dazed and I didn't have time to respond." Anders said sheepishly and Harry's confusion began to fade, his lips twitching up into a small smile.

"Really?"

"Really."

"I like you to" Harry said with a grin, "though I guess that's kind of obvious."

Anders smile was blinding, made even more special by the fact Harry had never seen him smile quite like that before. This time when Anders kissed him it was soft and gentle, and Harry could feel the emotions that Anders was pouring into it. Large hands came up to his face and thumbs gently traced over his cheek bones as Harry sighed into the kiss. His own hands reaching up to wrap around Anders neck as Harry pulled him impossibly close.


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey there everyone, thanks again for all the wonderful comments! Here is the latest chapter, I've been sick with glandular fever so lots of resting and some extra time to write this week **** Hope you enjoy! Also, once again, if you read any of my other stories feel free to comment and let me know what story you would like me to work on next **

**I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Bold words in the story are Harry speaking in parseltongue.**

**Chapter 15**

Harry's not sure how long he stood there wrapped in Anders arms, it wasn't until the door behind them tried to open and whacked Harry in the back of the head that they finally parted. Well not really parted, Harry thought, but they did stop kissing and moved away from the door to allow Timur, Roman and Lukas in.

Harry still had his arms around Anders, a part of him afraid that if he let go this would all turn out to be a dream.

"You two work everything out then?" Roman asked with a smirk, taking in their flushed faces and rumpled appearance.

Harry just rolled his eyes, a mischievous smile coming to his face, "nah, actually, I'm still a bit confused." With that he pulled Anders back in for a searing kiss, hands rising and tangling in soft blonde hair.

"Argh my eyes" moaned Lukas dramatically as he collapsed on his bed.

"Enough of that you two, I want my dinner to stay where it is" Timur said with a laugh.

Harry chuckled and pulled back. "I promise, we'll keep the pda's to a minimum." His dormmates looked relieved at that.

"I better get going" Anders said apologetically, like leaving was the last thing he wanted to do.

Harry froze for a second holding Anders close, before letting him go.

"Of course, it's getting late, you better get back to your own dorm room."

Anders nodded, pulling Harry into his chest and dropping little butterfly kisses all over his face and neck until Harry was laughing and trying to push him away.

"I wish I could stay," Anders said in between kisses.

"I'll walk you out" Harry said, taking Anders hand and leading him out of the dorm room, Anders throwing a backward wave to the others as he went.

A few people laughed and clapped as he entered the common room, Anders in tow, but Harry just kept his eyes down and hurried through.

They hesitated when they reached the corridor. "Good night Harry" Anders said softly, placing a gentle kiss on Harrys cheek before walking away.

Harry stood still, watching Anders until he disappeared around the end of the corridor before letting out a sigh and leaning back against the wall a grin forming on his mouth. It was amazing how much could change in the space of one day.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

The next morning as Harry walked towards the hall for breakfast, he felt a wave of anxiety wash over him. Sure, he liked Anders, but he had no idea how to act around him now, he had never had a boyfriend before, hell before yesterday he had never even been kissed before.

He stopped, fingers twisting together, as he saw Anders standing near the door with Leif and Axel. The Atticus student smiled before striding purposefully to Harry, pulling him into his arms and placing a chaste kiss on his lips. Harry smiled at the action. Guess there was no need to feel anxious, he would take his lead from Anders, who had released him from the tight hug but still had his arm wrapped possessively around Harrys shoulders. Harry found that it really wasn't any different than what they had been doing the last few weeks, except now Harry could really let himself bask in the comfort that Anders was offering him. Harry leaned into Anders side, soaking in the warmth the other seemed to exude in spades, joining in their friend's conversation as they made their way to the Concinne table for breakfast.

Harry startled as they sat, "are you allowed to sit here?" he asked the three teens seriously?

"Of course," answered Axel. "Just because most people sit at their own house table, doesn't mean that you aren't allowed to sit somewhere else."

As they ate Harry again marvelled at the difference between Durmstrang and Hogwarts. If Harry Potter had walked into the Great Hall at Hogwarts with a new boyfriend on his arm the place would have had a near melt down. Here, Harry Krum happily sat with his boyfriend eating breakfast, only noticing a few grins from the people around them.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you yesterday, Professor Boden offered me an apprenticeship with him."

He glanced at the looks of surprise on his friends faces as he continued to eat his toast.

"Wow, that's amazing Harry" Anders said excitedly, giving Harry a big squeeze. "Congratulations! You are a complete natural at Care of Magical Creatures and I could definitely see you working as a magic zoologist."

"Thank you" Harry said happily. "Honestly the thought of becoming a magic zoologist hadn't occurred to me before, but now that it has, I can't imagine doing anything else. I'm going to send a letter to Viktor, Andon and Anna later today to ask their opinion, but I think I'm going to accept."

All Harry's friends started congratulating him at this announcement.

"Well done Harry" said Martin as he clapped him on the back. "I'm sure you'll be great."

Harry smiled at the sincerity of his friend's words, no one was jealous of the fact he was asked, or judging and second guessing his decisions, they were all just genuinely happy for him, and Harry's chest warmed at the realisation.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

After breakfast Harry waved goodbye to his friends and walked with Anders and Axel back to their common room. He curled into Anders side as he wrote his letter, Anders writing one of his own to his little sister who hadn't started school yet. Harry wrote about the apprenticeship offer and explained that he was thinking of taking it. Hopefully they would reply soon with any insight they could offer before he was due to make a decision.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

It was Christmas eve and Harry was settled in amongst his friends in the Concinne common room. Anders had returned to his common room a few minutes ago, and Harry was embarrassed to admit, even to himself, that he missed the other teen already. Apparently, it was tradition to spend Christmas eve in your own common room, where a sort of Christmas eve party was held. House elves appeared carrying trays laden with hot chocolates and an assortment of Christmas cookies. Students surge forward grabbing a mug and plates of cookies before everyone settled around the common room and a seventh-year boy stood holding a book of Christmas stories.

"It's tradition" Roman whispered from his place beside Harry. "The seventh years read their favourite Christmas stories to everyone."

Harry got comfortable with his hot chocolate and cookies as the older teen started reading. He looked around the room at all the gathered students and smiled, not remembering ever seeing the common room quite so full before. The other students looked happy and relaxed as they listened to the stories, sometimes whispering amongst themselves about what story was their own favourite. Harry listened fondly, realising that in two short years that would be him up there reading.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

Harry awoke the next morning to the sound of laughter ringing through his dorm room. He was so comfortable that he turned over, trying to get back to sleep. Before he remembered it was Christmas. CHRISTMAS! He sat up quickly pulling the curtains around his bed away, seeing Roman and Lukas sitting around the small Christmas tree in their room, already ripping open presents. Timur, like Harry, was just pulling himself out of bed. Harry jumped up and rushed to the others sitting around the Christmas tree.

"Merry Christmas Harry!" Roman and Lukas shouted together, and Harry paused for a moment, reminded of another pair of twins that often spoke in unison. Shaking his head to rid him of the thought, he smiled widely.

"Merry Christmas!"

Timur joined them and Harry found himself in the middle of a cuddle puddle for a moment, friends squeezed all around him, before he was released, and everyone got stuck into opening their presents.

He got a book on magical creatures from Timur and grinned. Roman and Lukas gave him a new pair of gloves, Harry wasn't sure what they were made out of, but it was the softest thing he had ever felt. He opened up his present from Viktor and beamed, Viktor had sent tickets for his next game in two weeks' time for him and several friends. Harry read the letter attached, apparently, Viktor had already got permission from the school, he just had to let his friends know and ask them to get permission from their own parents. He felt the excitement course through him at getting to watch Viktor play with his friends. Andon and Anna had given him a new broom, the fastest broom on the market at the moment and Harry grinned at the looks of surprise on the other boys faces.

"Will definitely have to give this a whirl when the weather warms up a bit" Harry said.

He opened his other presents, chocolates and candy and some new quills, before he got to his present from Anders. It was a small box; he pulled the box open with shaking fingers to find a small coin nestled inside. Harry stared it confused for a moment, before he noticed a note sticking out of the lid of the box. Harry opened it and began to read, feeling the eyes of Timur, Roman and Lukas on him.

_Dear Harry,_

_This coin is a portkey that I had my father make. It will bring you to my home if you say the word, "summertime" while holding it. It is much safer and more reliable than traveling by floo and I thought if it was OK with your family you could use it to visit with me over the summer. Of course, that's only if you want to. I just couldn't imagine going the whole summer without seeing you._

_Merry Christmas Harry._

_Love, Anders_.

Harry's breath caught in his throat as he read Anders words. It looked like they both couldn't stand the idea of being apart all summer, Harry thought warmly.

"So, what did he get you?" Timur asked, looking impatient.

"Oh, its umm, a port key to his place for over the summer" Harry said, and was embarrassed when his voice quivered a little. He cleared his throat, looking awkwardly at his friends, who just smiled warmly back at him.

"You will have to come and visit with us over the summer as well" said Lukas, Roman and Timur nodding along.

"Really?" Harry asked.

"Of course!" Lukas said with a laugh "and maybe we can come and visit you at your home as well."

Harry couldn't hold back the bright smile that broke out on his face and Lukas, Roman and Timur were momentarily stunned.

"Yeah… Yeah! That would be great" Harry said enthusiastically. He had never had a friend over before, but he knew Viktor wouldn't mind at all.

Thinking of Viktor reminded Harry of his gift.

"Would you all like to come with me in two weeks' time to watch Viktor play?" Harry asked excitedly. "He has sent tickets and got permission off the school for us to leave for a few hours, you just need to write your parents and ask them for permission as well."

"Oh, hell yes!" Timur said excitedly, the twins nodding along as well.

They left their dorm not long after still talking excitedly about the game as they made their way to the hall for breakfast.

Harry stopped in surprise as he entered, the usual house tables were gone and instead there were smaller round tables spread around the hall. Each covered in every type of breakfast food Harry could imagine. There was the usual breakfast fare, but also pancakes, waffles, French toast, croissants, pretty much everything Harry could possibly imagine.

"We get to sit in smaller groups with our friends on Christmas day" Roman explained. "I guess it's to make it more personal and give people the opportunity to eat with friends from other houses that they might not otherwise."

Harry nodded in understanding, his eyes searching the hall for Anders. Finding him towards the far left wall, he hurried over, leaving Lukas, Roman and Timur behind in his rush. Anders opened his arms as Harry got closer and he happily walked into the warm embrace.

"Merry Christmas Harry" Anders said quietly, face buried in Harrys neck.

"Merry Christmas Anders."

They stood like that for a moment, ignoring the world around them until someone clearing their throat drew them back to reality.

They turned to find Anastacia standing beside them smiling, "Merry Christmas Harry."

"Merry Christmas" Harry said smiling, turning to address the table as a whole, "Merry Christmas everyone." He said before taking his seat next to Anders and starting to pile waffles onto his plate. Laughing as he listened to everyone clamouring loudly about the gifts, they had gotten that morning. As he started to eat, he turned back to Anders.

"Thank you for my present by the way, I would love to come and visit you over the summer."

Anders smiled softly, "I'd hoped that you would and thank you for my present Harry, I would love to come on holidays with you over the summer." Anders said sincerely, bringing a hand up to gently grasp Harrys cheek, he drew the younger in for a sweet kiss before returning to his breakfast.

"Well great minds think alike" Harry said with a chuckle, returning to his own waffles.

"Seems like you two can barely stand to be apart, now that you've finally declared yourselves" Axel said with a chuckle.

"I could barely stand to be part before that" said Anders cheekily, "I was just better at hiding it."

Harry laughed along with the rest of the table but couldn't resist sending Anders a small grin.

The day continued on in much the same vein, food friends and plenty of fun. Harry was worried one of his friends was going to have to roll him to bed with how much food he had managed to consume that day. He had invited Anders, Martin, Blake and Axel along with him to watch Viktor's game, and they had all excitedly said they would write to their parents as soon as possible to get permission. As he laid in bed that night, he couldn't wipe the smile off his face.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

It was nearing the end of Christmas break before Harry got the chance to do something he had been wanting to do for a while now; visit the occamy family out in the forest. Anders was currently engaged in a serious game of chess with Leif, while the rest of his friends were flying and playing quidditch with a large group of students at the pitch. It was the perfect opportunity. He made his excuses to his friends and walked off like he was heading back towards the castle. Instead he veered off around the Care of Magical Creatures building and made his way quietly in amongst the cover of the trees at the edge of the forest. He made his way through the trees, following the same path that they had travelled during Care of Magical Creatures, until he came to the clearing. The baby occamy that he had seen on his last visit were larger now and happily flying around the clearing, a large one was curled up on the roots of a large tree, watching the younger ones progress.

As Harry approached the occamy froze for a moment before the large one on the ground, Harry assumed it was one of the parents, flew up in front of its hatchlings. It stared at Harry warily.

"Stranger what do you want?" It hissed dangerously, and Harry held his hands out in front of him trying to look harmless.

"**I just wanted to talk" **Harry answered back and the occamy nearly fell out of the sky in surprise.

"How are you able to speak to me and understand me little wizard?"

"**I'm a parselmouth"** Harry explained. **"It means I have the ability to talk to snakes."**

The occamy looked unsure for a moment before gradually flying closer.

"I have never heard of such an ability before" the occamy said, still sounding suspicious.

"**Well yes, it's quite rare" **Harry said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck**. "I'm the only one who can do it. Well there was someone else, but he died a little while ago."**

"And you wished to use this ability to speak with me?" The occamy sounded genuinely confused.

"**Well of course, I don't think I've ever seen such a stunning creature as you before." **Harry knew the flattery had done the trick when the occamy's purple wings puffed out impressively and it started flying loops around the clearing. The hatchlings also started flying a little closer.

"Are you really the only human who can speak to snakes?" The hatchling on the left asked and Harry nodded, before quickly amending, **"that I know of anyway."**

It seemed that the occamy found Harry just as interesting as Harry found them and he spent an enjoyable hour chatting about what types of food they like and games they enjoy playing before Harry was forced to return to the castle. As he made his way back, he peered through the trees at the edge of the forest, making sure the coast was clear before edging out and heading back toward the castle. Harry was so intent on what was in front of him that he failed to see what was above him; Annika. Annika had been on the quidditch pitch when she'd spotted Harry sneaking off into the forest and had let her curiosity and suspicion get the best of her and followed after. She had watched his whole interaction with the occamy, mouth falling open in shock as a series of hisses had made their way out of Harry's mouth, before she realised that he was talking parseltongue! As she floated in the air watching Harry make his way around the Care of Magical Creatures building her whole body shook with shock. Harry was a parselmouth! Now Annika wasn't stupid no matter what some people believed, there was only one known parselmouth in the whole world; Harry Potter.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16 – Final Chapter!**

**Hi everyone, here it is, the final chapter! Thank you so much to everyone who has read and enjoyed this story over all the months I have been writing it. It has been so much fun to write. I hope you all enjoy this final chapter and how the story wraps up. I may possibly do an epilogue at some point, set in the future, but will see how I go. Anyway, enjoy and thanks again!**

**As always, I do not own Harry Potter.**

Lessons had started back a few days ago and although Harry enjoyed the classes here at Durmstrang he could admit that he was missing his free time a little bit. He had enjoyed the sleep in's and spending his days hanging out with his friends and Anders. Instead, he was in one of the Herbology greenhouses helping to harvest aconite roots that were needed for potion ingredients. Still, he couldn't complain too much, at least it was warm in the greenhouses and he was able to work with Anders. Harry knew he should be concentrating on what he was supposed to be doing but he couldn't stop his eyes wandering to the other every few minutes. Anders shot him a small smile as he pulled his own plant out of the loose soil and carefully started harvesting the roots. It was delicate work and Harry mentally gave himself a shake before concentrating on his own work. When the class finally ended, he grabbed his bag and started walking back to the castle with Anders and Timur. Snow had fallen thick on the ground, but Anders put an arm around Harry's slim waist and pulled him gently into his side, Harry smiled at the action. They walked back quietly, and Harry's hand subconsciously went to his pocket where the coin portkey that Anders had given him for Christmas now sat. It had become a habit he had picked up since Christmas, carrying the coin around in his pocket and running his fingers over it as he went about his day. Harry found the solid weight of the coin in his hand oddly comforting, reminding Harry of Anders soothing presence.

He sat down at the lunch table with his friends and pulled 'Nordic Creatures' out of his bag. Propping it on the jug of orange juice in front of him and started reading where he had left off that morning. He had officially accepted the apprenticeship with Professor Boden and would be starting work with the man next week. It would be two afternoons a week as well as Saturday mornings. Viktor had been very excited for him when Harry had explained about the apprenticeship and had sent Harry about a dozen different books on animals and creatures. Harry had been very touched by the gesture and support and may or may not have teared up a little when the package arrived. Harry had been embarrassed but Anders had just pulled him into his side in comfort, telling him that he was adorable.

The green-eyed teen looked up from his book when he heard someone calling his name.

"Harry" Lukas and Roman said in unison as they sat down opposite him at the table.

"We just heard from our parents, we're allowed to go and watch Krum play with you!" Lukas finished excitedly, while Roman waved the letter around their heads.

Harry's face broke into a broad smile at the news. "That's great! You two were the last ones to get permission, the game is only a few days away and I was starting to get worried you wouldn't be able to come."

"Who else is coming again?" Roman asked with interest, as he took a hearty bite of the sandwich in front of him.

"It will be, me and you pair, Anders, Timur, Blake, Martin and Axel." Harry said succinctly, counting the people off on his fingers as he went. "Viktor's said he's even managed to get us tickets in one of the top boxes, so we will have a birds eye view of the game."

Harry smiled softly at his friends excited faces.

"Viktor will meet us in the Headmasters office and portkey with us to the game."

They continued talking about the game and Harry noticed some of the students sitting around them subtly listening in. He turned and saw Annika looking at him intently, Harry squirmed a little under her intense stare. He wondered briefly what her problem was now. He thought they had sorted out their issues and had actually been on the way to becoming friends. Harry flicked his eyes back to Anders, determined not to let Annika ruin his good mood.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

The week swept by quickly and before he knew it Harry was walking with his friends to the headmaster's office. Viktor would already be waiting there for them, ready to whisk them off to the game. This game was Bulgaria vs Russia and Harry was excited to see the different playing styles and maybe pick up a new move or two that he could try out himself, even if he wasn't playing quidditch anymore. Anders had his arm wrapped around Harry's shoulders and was speaking rapidly to Axel about the game. The pair were actually from Russia it turned out, so were now even more excited to watch the game. Harry wasn't sure if he had ever seen Anders quite so animated before, he'd definitely never heard him speak so much before. The blondes free hand was gesticulating wildly as he tried to explain a move one of the Russian players- Egorov, Harry thought the name was, had pulled off the last time Anders had been to a match. Harry bit his lip to stop himself from chuckling at Anders attempts.

They entered the headmaster's office to find Viktor already waiting for them. He was sipping from a teacup and looked to be having a wonderful time catching up with the older man.

"Ah Harry you're here" Viktor said, standing and enveloping Harry in a big hug, subtly pushing Anders off to the side as he did so.

"Viktor! I've missed you" Harry said honestly, wrapping his arms around the muscular older teen. "I want you to meet my friends, this is Timur, Lukas, Roman, Blake, Martin, Axel and finally Anders," Harry said pointing to each friend in turn as he said their name. He finished with Anders and lead Viktor over to the blonde teen. "Anders is my boyfriend" Harry said shyly, his cheeks flushing a soft pink.

Viktor's eyes narrowed at the declaration. He remembered Anders from when he was in school, they were in the same house after all, so he had come across the younger teen in his time at Durmstrang. He remembered him as a quiet boy, though not much else.

Viktor stuck out his hand for the other to shake.

"It's nice to meet you Anders" Viktor said briskly as they shook hands. "I hope you won't make the grave mistake of daring to hurt my Harry, will you?" he finished, his voice dropping low and dangerous.

Harry's eyes popped open at the undercurrent of threat in the words.

Anders took it all in his stride though, shaking Viktor's hand and answering seriously, "I wouldn't dream of hurting my Harry." Causing Harry to blush all over again. The handshake went on for longer than was perhaps necessary, the two teens sizing each other up before letting go.

"Alright, who's ready to go?" Viktor asked, looking around at the rest of Harry's friends. He was met with a resounding chorus of "me, me!" that left him chuckling.

"Goodbye Headmaster, I will return them all safely to you at the end of the game." Viktor said seriously, as he pulled out a rolled-up newspaper from his pocket.

"Alright, everyone grab hold."

The teens all gathered around, each putting a finger on the paper as Viktor said the phrase "Bulgaria rules" activating the portkey. Harry felt the usual tug behind his navel, before he was swept away in a swirl of bodies. He landed heavily and flew into Anders who was at his side, causing them both to stumble, but thankfully Anders got his feet under him and righted them both before they toppled to the ground. Harry helped Lukas and Timur off the ground, who hadn't been so lucky as to stay on their feet, before looking around.

The room was remarkably like the one he had been in for the quidditch world cup. A large room with chairs lined in rows behind a huge glass window. The only difference this time was that there was tables of food and drink along the back of the wall.

"These are your seats here" Viktor explained leading them over to the front row. "There will be others to come later, but I had to pick you up a little early so I can go and get ready for the match now. Help yourself to the food, remember do not leave this room under any circumstances, OK?"

All the teens murmured their agreement. Harry gave Viktor a quick hug and wished him luck before Viktor had to hurry off and get ready.

"Well, who's hungry?" Harry asked heading towards the large table covered in food. There was a huge selection, some he recognised some he didn't. He decided to be on the safe side and just grab a couple different sandwiches. The other boys filling up their plates before they all trooped back over and took their seats.

"I've never been in such good seats before" Axel said in awe, looking out over the crowds that were starting to form in the stands below them.

"I have once before, it was amazing!" Harry exclaimed, "you nearly feel like you're part of the match when you're this high up. It was probably the best quidditch match I've ever been to" Harry said, though he didn't elaborate on which match that was.

This got everyone talking about the best matches they've ever seen.

"There was this one match our dad took us to" Lukas explained. "France vs Romania, France was winning until someone jinxed them to only fly upside down. It was hilarious! Come to think of it they still only lost by 30 points though." Lukas finished, scratching his head in amusement.

Harry chuckled at the idea of a whole quidditch team flying around upside down and hoped nothing similar happened to Viktor tonight.

Harry sat in the middle of the row, between Anders and Blake. He peered over the edge to look down as the two teams started to make their way onto the pitch.

Harry cheered and clapped as Viktor walked out, the other boys clapping along, though Harry laughed when he realised Anders stopped after a few seconds. Obviously, his loyalty to his Russian team ran deep. This should be a great match.

The players lifted off into the air and began warming up, flying some laps around the pitch and throwing a quaffle amongst themselves. This continued on for a few minutes until a referee walked onto the pitch and a horn sounded. Both teams flew to the ground, lining up in front of the short balding man. Harry couldn't hear what was being said, but a coin was thrown into the air and the referee was pointing to the Russian team, who took the quaffle into their possession. Another whistle sounded and the players lifted gently into the air.

Harry felt excitement coursing through him as he waited for the game to start. He was practically vibrating in his seat, Anders cast him a fond look, wrapping his arm around Harry's shoulders as the players took off at the sound of the siren. Harry leaned into his side, placing his hand on Anders knee as he watched the game start.

"Just a little bit excited are you, love?" Anders asked with a grin and Harry being the mature person that he was, simply stuck his tongue out in response, earning a soft chuckle from his boyfriend.

Harry was so caught up in Viktor and the match that he failed to notice that the other members of the box had arrived and were now sitting in the chairs behind him. It was about 15 minutes in, and Harry had turned to pick up his drink from the ground beside him when he caught a flash of blue robes and dark skin. He looked back again, and to his immense surprise came eye to eye with none other than Order of the Phoenix member, Kingsley Shacklebolt. Harry froze in complete and utter shock and horror at finding himself in such close proximity to a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Harry quickly spun back around, cursing his luck. Of course, he knew that Kingsley had taken over as Minister of Magic, but what were the chances that he would be here with the Bulgarian minister on the same night that he was watching Viktor. Harry let out a small sigh, pretty bloody good actually considering just how Harry's luck ran.

"Harry?" A deep voice sounded behind him.

Harry felt his heart stutter in his chest, his mind frantically trying to come up with a way out of this mess.

"Harry? Is that you?" The voice asked again.

Harry kept facing forward determined to ignore the voice, even as his words started to catch the attention of his friends.

"Ah Harry," Anders said uncertainly. "I think the man behind you, knows you."

"No, no he doesn't, must just be some kinds of mistake" Harry squeaked. Anders brows furrowed in concern at the fear that laced Harry's words.

Harry felt a firm hand grip his shoulder and turn him around, once again finding himself face to face with Kingsley. Dark eyes widened in surprise, Harry could feel them tracing over him, taking in the differences but also the similarities.

Harry noticed that all of his friends had turned away from the match and were carefully watching the strange man who had grabbed his shoulder.

"Harry! It is you! We've been looking bloody everywhere for you; the whole order has been going spare wondering what happened to you." Kingsley exclaimed shaking Harry slightly in his excitement. Harry flinched, not sure whether it's at the words or the contact.

Suddenly Anders is on his feet beside him and grabbing Kingsley's hand, pulling it not so gently off Harry's shoulder.

Kingsley looked at Anders in surprise, like he'd just realised there were other people in the room.

"Where have you been Harry?" Kingsley asked, and this time Harry can hear accusation in his words. "We could have used you these last few months, the wizarding world has been in upheaval, but instead you've been off who knows where doing who knows what."

Harry's eyes narrow slightly in anger, who the hell does Kingsley think he is!?

"Ah, I think there has been some kind of mistake" says Martin seriously, from down the row of seats.

"What?" Kingsley asked confused. "No, there is no mistake. This is one Harry James Potter, defeater of He who shall not be named. He has been missing since last June, but now that I have finally found him, it is time for him to return home, to England."

Everyone seemed to freeze at the words, Harry could practically feel the cogs turning in Anders head as he processed the words. Harry felt panic start to set in, oh gosh his friends knew the truth now, what if they didn't want to be his friend anymore? And Kingsley wanted to take him back to England, no, NO, he wouldn't go back without a fight.

"Harry, is this true?" Anders asked quietly, and Harry was heartbroken to see such uncertainty in Anders eyes.

Taking a deep breath and steeling his nerve Harry nodded. He backed up a few steps and looked at his friends. He knew the time had come to finally be honest with them.

"It…It's true. I was born Harry James Potter. However, Viktor blood adopted me over the summer, so I haven't lied to you, my name really is Harry Krum." Harry let his head drop, waiting for the anger and rejection from his friends, instead he felt strong arms wrap around him and pull him into a warm chest. Harry looked up to see Anders blue eyes looking down at him with nothing but love shining through.

"I don't know why you didn't tell me this Harry, but it makes no difference. Having had a different name does not change what I know about you. You Harry Krum, are kind" Anders said as he dropped a small kiss on Harrys cheek. "And loyal" he said, continuing to drop kisses as he spoke. "And strong, brave, smart, fierce, funny. You would do anything for your friends and God help the person who dares to harm them. The fact that you were born with a different name, does not change the way I feel about you." Anders said sincerely. "I'm sure you had a very good reason for doing what you did." Harry could feel tears welling in his eyes as Anders finished speaking. He had been so afraid of what would happen when Anders and his friends found out he had been lying about who he really was, it felt better than he ever could have imagined being accepted for who he truly was.

"This actually explains a lot" Martin said with a chuckle, "we always knew there was something from your past you were keeping hidden, didn't expect it to be quite this big but still I agree with Anders, none of that changes who you are Harry."

Harry gave Martin a watery smile, throwing his arms around his friend, before slowly turning to looking at the other boys, all who were nodding along in agreement.

"That's wonderful that you've made some friends Harry, but it doesn't change the fact that you will still need to be coming home with me. Right. Now." Kingsley said and started to take a step towards Harry.

The atmosphere in the top box turned tense as Harry shifted away from Kingsley's reaching hand. Harry drew his wand and saw out of the corner of his eye his friends doing the same. The Ministers with Kingsley looked around confused, trying to understand what was happening.

Kingsley also looked confused as well for a moment, before raising his wand and casting his patronus. "I have found Harry." The patronus took off before Harry could even think of a way to stop it.

"Shit" Harry groaned, running his hand wearily over his face.

"Kingsley, I am not going anywhere with you. I have a new home now and I am very happy there, I have no intention whatsoever of returning with you." Harry said firmly, making it clear to Kingsley what he wanted.

As he expected Kingsley ignored everything that he had said.

"Everyone at Hogwarts has missed you Harry, I know Ron and Hermione are very keen to see you again, as is Ginny." The older man said with a grin, like he and Harry were in on some inside joke.

Harry just rolled his eyes exasperated but not surprised by the Ministers attitude.

"You are just confused at the moment Harry; I don't know what has happened to you, but we will get you back home and right as rein in no time."

Anders growled at the implied threat in Kingsley's words, that Harry wasn't mentally capable of making his own decisions. The large blonde subtly shifted so he was partially blocking Harry from Kingsley's view, while Harry continued to scowl.

"For the last time Kingsley, I'm not going anywhere with you!" Harry said angrily, he was really starting to lose his temper now.

Harry felt Blake and Martin move up closer to him on his right side.

Kingsley scowled, and before Harry could even react had shot a stunner at the small teen. Blake who must've been expecting the move flicked his wrist, causing a shield to appear and absorb the stunning spell.

"What the hell Kingsley!" Harry yelled. "I said no! Nothing gives you the right to try to take me anywhere without my permission!"

Kingsley didn't respond, just shot another stunner, this time Harry was prepared, as was Anders, both casting strong shields around their whole group. Axel, Timur, Roman and Lukas, coming up to stand at their backs.

Kingsley looked frustrated and started firing spells at the shield, which thankfully held under the onslaught of magic.

The Russian and Bulgarian Ministers looked horrified as Kingsley started firing spells one after another at a group of underage students. They quickly cast their own shields as the rebounding spells flew around the room hitting things indiscriminately.

A plate of sandwiches exploded, and a hole was gauged out of the wall. Everyone flinched when a spell hit the viewing window to the pitch and exploded in a shower of glass.

The crowd below had begun to notice the disturbance and more heads turned away from the game to look up at the top box.

Harry looked around the room trying to find an escape when the door behind Kingsley burst open and a group of people barrelled in. Harry felt his heart begin to sink at the sight before him.

Ron, Hermione, Mr & Mrs Weasley, Remus, Sirius and, of course Dumbledore.

Dumbledores blue eyes scanned the room quickly, taking in the situation in a matter of seconds.

"Harry my boy, it's so good to see you again. We've all been so worried about you."

Harry rolled his eyes at the sentiment.

Before he could respond another spoke up, "Harry," Sirius croaked.

Harry flicked his eyes to his Godfather, surprised to see genuine emotion on the others face.

"Now what is all this fuss about?" Dumbledore asked in his grandfatherly tone. "Surely you wish to come home, now you have been found."

"Found!? I was never bloody lost." Harry growled. "I made a decision for myself and it was the best decision that I have ever made. I will not be returning with you, I have a new home, a new family now."

Shock seemed to be the prominent emotion in the room at the moment, before the members of The Order of the Phoenix all started talking at once.

"What!? Harry you can't mean that!" Gasped Sirius.

"We are your family Harry, not whoever these people are" Mrs Weasley said with a scowl.

"Oi, what about us?" Ron cried. "Years of friendship, forgotten just like that."

"Surely Harry if we all just sit down and talk, we will be able to work this all out" Dumbledore said gently.

The voices started getting louder, talking over each other to be heard. Someone, he's not sure who fired a spell at the shield surrounding Harry and his friends. Harry took an involuntary step back at the strength of the spell, the shield shaking with the force of it. Fear started to creep through Harry's veins as another spell hit the shield. His heart started pounding and his hands started to shake.

Harry heard a whirring noise and looked around just as Viktor came bursting through the broken window, landing with a crash near Harry and his friends.

"What the hell is going on here!" Viktor snarled, trying to take a step towards Harry but forced back by the shield that surrounded them.

The voices started up again, all fighting to be heard, this time with Viktor yelling louder than any of them.

"I blood adopted Harry; he is my son! God help anyone who tries to take him away from me against his will!"

Harry stood frozen as the shield wavered precariously under the force of another spell.

He looked around the room trying to find a way to help, a way to stop the fighting but he knew it was no use. Dumbledore and the Order wouldn't listen to him, that much was abundantly clear. Harry's hands dropped to his sides in defeat, as his hand fell it brushed against his pocket and Harry felt a solid weight brush his hand.

His coin!

"Quick!" He gasped, gaining the attention of his friends who had been watching the spectacle before them.

"Everyone put a finger on the coin" Anders eyes lit in understanding as he reached out and touched the side of the coin. The others following suit. It was a tight squeeze, not just to all get a finger on the coin but to all squish in a circle around the small object.

Harry looked at Viktor in concern, he knew the older teen would be fine. Could probably handle the situation better without the added pressure that Harry being in the room was obviously causing.

With one final look at Viktor Harry said the password, "summertime."

There was a sharp tug behind his naval and then the group was landing with a loud bang in an unfamiliar room. There was no chance of anyone staying on their feet with how close they had been standing, so the group crumpled to the ground in a messy heap. Harry ended up half under Timur with someone laying painfully on his hair.

He tried to look around as he heard hurried footsteps rush into the room they had landed in, but whoever was on his hair prevented much movement.

"Anders?" A voice said urgently.

"Anders, what's happened?"

Harry heard a groan from somewhere to his left. Everyone started to slowly disentangle and make their way to their feet. Harry felt a strong hand grip him under the arm and pull him to his feet. Harry looked up to find himself face to face with Anders, who had such a look of worry on his face that Harry felt his heart melt a little. Strong hands gripped his face.

"Are you OK Harry?" Anders asked in concern, blue eyes flickering all over him, checking for injury.

"Yeah, yeah I'm OK" Harry said and was slightly embarrassed when his voice wavered. He was feeling weak and dizzy as the adrenaline and fear that had been pumping though him slowly began to abate.

"They were trying to take you away from us, weren't they?"

"Ye-yeah" Harry said before clearing his throat. "Yeah, they wanted me to go back with them. Back to an abusive family, back to people who care more about how they can use me, then they do about me. They don't listen to me, to what I want, to what I was trying to tell them."

Anders pulled Harry close, catching his mouth in a searing kiss. Harry wrapped his arms around Anders neck, fingers curling into blonde hair as he kissed back just as fiercely. Harry felt Anders tongue make its way into his mouth, running over his own tongue in a gentle caress. Harry let himself enjoy the feeling for a moment before pulling back, resting his head against Anders as he caught his breath.

"I thought they were going to take you" Anders said quietly, and Harry's heart clenched at the fear that laced the words. He didn't have any words to respond, but simply held Anders closer, letting them both take comfort from the other as they calmed down from the ordeal.

When they finally pulled away from each other they turned to find a man and woman standing nearby watching them bemusedly.

Harry glanced at Anders to see his whole face lit up bright red.

"Ah, mama, papa, I would like you to meet Harry Krum. Harry this is my mama and papa. Or Sofia and Alek as you may call them."

Harry smiled shyly at the couple before him. Harry could see where Anders got his looks from, both parents were fair with blonde hair and blue eyes. Blue eyes that were both narrowed at Anders in amusement.

"Oh, Harry it's so nice to meet you, Anders has written of practically nothing else since he met you." Gushed Sofia. Anders, if possible, blushed even harder at those words and Harry swore he heard some chuckles break out behind them. "Though I didn't expect to be meeting you under such circumstances."

"Yes, when you asked for a portkey for Harry, I assumed it would be for this summer, not the middle of January. What on earth is going on son?" Questioned Alek.

"Ah, first let me introduce our other friends; Axel you know, this is Timur, Blake, Martin, Lukas and Roman" Anders said, pointing to each boy as he went.

"It is lovely to meet you all" Sofia said graciously. "Now quit stalling son and tell us what is going on. Are you hurt? Do you need some kind of help?"

"It's actually my fault that we're here" Harry said quietly, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"You see, at the end of the last school year I was going through a bit of a tough time. Viktor, ah Viktor Krum that is, pretty much saved me. Adopted me and gave me a whole new life, a life I'm very happy in." Sofia waved everyone into comfortable armchairs as Harry spoke, deciding that this may be quite a conversation and it was best to get comfortable.

"I didn't tell anyone that I had left, I knew they would never let me go. However, while I was gone some people have been searching for me. One of those people was at the quidditch match tonight. He… he tried to force me to go back with him and didn't take it to kindly when I refused. Thankfully I had the portkey in my pocket and was able to use it to get everyone to safety. Though I am truly sorry that I put you all in danger, I understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore." Harry finished solemnly.

Noises of surprise and protest reached Harry's ears.

"Gosh, no Harry! Nothing that happened tonight was your fault. If that first bloke had just listened to you from the get-go the whole incident could have been avoided" Martin protested. The others murmuring their agreement. Harry smiled tentatively and lifted his head to look at his friends smiling faces. He let himself relax slightly as he realised that his friends weren't mad, that they weren't rejecting him, they still wanted to be his friend. He wasn't sure how he got so lucky as to have friends like these.

"If you have been blood adopted by Mr Krum, this other man had no right what so ever to try and take you" Alek said angrily, starting to pace.

"Logically I know that but it still scared me, they just didn't care. It was better that I leave and let Viktor handle them."

"If by handle them, you mean kill them, then yes definitely a good idea to leave Viktor to deal with them" Anders chuckled.

"Is it OK if we all stay the night here mama, papa?" Anders asked. "It has been a trying evening; I think we all need some sleep and can look at heading back to school in the morning."

Sofia and Alek nodded their approval. "Of course, you are all more than welcome to stay. I will send an owl to the Headmaster immediately though, so he can arrange a portkey to take you back to school asap."

The group all nodded in understanding at the words.

"Harry, I assume your family will be in contact, I will let you know if anything arrives for you." Sofia said softly as the group of teens started to drift toward the stairs.

It was as they started walking that Harry had his first chance to actually look around at the room, they were in. He wouldn't have been surprised to find that he was actually in some old Russian castle.

The room was huge, with walls made of a thick grey stone, and tapestries lining the walls, telling stories of various heroic deeds done. Harry's eyes skimmed over suits of armour and a particularly brutal looking axe as they made their way to a spiralling stone staircase. A thick red carpet covering the stone as they made their way up the stairs to an upper level. Harry thought it was beautiful. He could practically feel the history vibrating through the place and Harry instantly felt at home. He knew that Anders family must have lived here for generations for a home to be this deeply steeped in family magic. The idea that this was where Anders grew up brought a soft smile to Harry's face, imaging a young Anders running around causing mischief.

As they continued down the hall Anders stopped and pointed out rooms for different people to stay in, thankfully the place was so big there seemed an endless supply of rooms. After bidding their friends goodnight Anders led Harry to the last room in the hallway. He opened the door and guided him inside.

"This, Harry, is my room" Anders said gesturing around the room before them.

Harry smiled at the walls and walls of books that lined the walls, the broom stick in the corner as well as the huge bed in the middle of the room, covered in thick green blankets. The room practically screamed Anders.

"It's beautiful" Harry said, as they walked further into the room and stopped before the roaring fireplace.

Anders pulled Harry back into his chest, wrapping his arms around the smaller waist. Harry went willingly curling his hands tightly in Anders robes and burying his face in the other teens neck. Letting himself relax as he breathed in the calming scent.

Harry felt Anders fidget a little but was to relaxed to even try to move.

"If you like you could sleep in here tonight. With me I mean." Anders said gently.

Harry looked up at his boyfriend before nodding decidedly, "I'd like that."

Anders seemed surprised but happy with the answer. He pulled away, rummaging through his draws before pulling out a pair of pants and a sleep shirt for Harry.

"The bathrooms just through there if you'd like to get ready?"

Harry nodded, but made quick work in the bathroom. Now that he was somewhere safe he was feeling completely exhausted, and Anders huge bed was looking more and more welcoming. Especially when he came out of the bathroom and found the blonde already dressed and in bed. Harry hovered nervously before Anders smiled at him, patting the space beside him.

Harry taking the hint hurried over and quickly climbed into bed. Feeling relaxed but a little awkward at the idea of sharing a bed with Anders for the first time. He cast a quick glance at the blonde, who was wearing an amused smile. Anders slowly reached out and wrapped an arm around Harry, pulling him gently into his chest.

"Is this OK?" Anders asked quietly.

"More than OK" Harry said back, snuggling in deeper to Anders warmth as he felt sleep claim him.

**HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP**

Harry woke in an unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar bed. He looked around in a daze for a moment before he remembered the night before. He let out a soft groan and let his head fall back into the soft pillow beneath him. The Order had found him, life as he had known it had changed forever…again. He was scared what the Oder was going to do now they had found him, even if another part of his brain gently reminded him that they couldn't actually do anything. He was a Krum now, there was no way for them to contact him at school or at home and if they tried to do anything any other time, he had the law on his side, as well as Viktor. Viktor had looked downright furious last night, flying into the top box like some dark avenging angel. Harry would be forever grateful to have Viktor Krum in his life.

The warm body behind him started to stir slightly and Harry knew that Anders must be waking up. Harry rolled over so he could watch Anders wake up, the blonde blinking a few times and look around disorientated. Adorable! Harry thought as Anders blue eyes started to focus.

"Well this is a nice way to wake up" Anders whispered, his voice hoarse from sleep. He pulled Harry closer, so they were pressed together from shoulder to ankle.

Harry groaned softly at the feel of Anders against him. Anders hand ran up and down his back soothingly.

"Did you sleep OK?" Anders asked. "I was worried you would be upset about what happened yesterday."

"I slept great" Harry replied. "I felt so safe in your arms" he admitted shyly, eyes darting to the blankets beneath them.

Anders looked pleased by the statement. "Good, I'm glad," he said, placing a gentle kiss to Harry's cheek.

There came a soft knock at the door, followed by a much louder one. Before either Harry or Anders could respond the door burst open and in marched Viktor, Sofia and Alek right behind them.

"Just what is going on in here Harry?" Viktor asked, his voice deep and gruff.

Harry let out a surprised squeak at the sight of Viktor standing before him and hurriedly tried to move away from Anders.

Viktor shot Anders a positively dangerous look, eyes narrowed in anger, and Harry saw Anders swallow thickly. "It better not be what it looks like."

"No! No it's not. We didn't do anything but sleep. I didn't want to be alone last night" Harry finished quietly.

Viktor let out a deep sigh, running his hands over his face tiredly.

"Fine… fine, just don't be making a habit of it Harry."

Harry nodded quickly and jumped out of bed to wrap his arms around Viktor. The older teen looked exhausted, and Harry felt quilt grip his stomach and twist at the thought that he was the cause of all this trouble.

Viktor hugged Harry back, holding the smaller teen securely against his chest.

Harry pulled back and looked up at Viktor. "Sorry for leaving like that last night."

Viktor just shook his head, "no, I'm glad you did. It was easier on me knowing you were safely away."

"What happened after I left?"

Viktor scratch his head, his eyes narrowing again. "Well, there was a lot of yelling and curses being thrown. The Bulgarian and Russian Ministers were very unimpressed and called security to get the group under control. I provided proof to Dumbledore about the adoption. He did not look happy, but there isn't a lot they can do about it. I simply explained that if they tried to contact or approach you in any way, there would be serious consequences. I think the message got through."

Harry let out a relieved breath. He was safe, he wasn't being made to go back to Hogwarts.

"Some of them wouldn't shut up, wanted to talk to you, know where you were. I just told them you would contact them if and when you wanted to."

Harry's face split into a huge grin at Viktor's words, smiling even more when Anders came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist, resting his chin on Harry's shoulder.

"Come on now, down for breakfast, everyone else is already eating." Viktor said, grabbing Harry's hand and pulling him down the hall, leaving Anders trailing behind.

They walked into the dining room, and Harry was once again blown away. A huge wooden table sat in the middle with a roaring fire nearby. The floor was once again grey stone but covered in a large dark brown mat. Harry's eyes went immediately to a younger girl who was sitting at the table, happily eating breakfast with his friends.

The girl let out a happy squeal when she spotted Anders and jumped into his arms. Anders gripped her hard. "Oh, how I've missed you Faina" Anders whispered, and Harry felt his heart melt at the sight.

Anders pulled back and spun Faina around to face Harry. "Faina this is my boyfriend Harry, Harry this is my little sister Faina."

Harry smiled and gave a small wave to the younger girl who was staring at him intently.

"It's nice to meet you Faina" Harry said and was rewarded with a small grin.

"You to Harry, Anders writes of nothing else in his letters home."

Causing Harry to laugh and Anders to blush. He gave his sister a playful shove, "go eat your breakfast squirt."

Faina laughed, skipping back to the table and her place between Martin and Blake.

Harry sat between Anders and Viktor and began dishing himself up some scrambled eggs and toast.

"So, Harry Potter huh?" Lukas asked, staring at Harry with a raised brow. "Defeater of Dark Lords and champion among men, if the rumours are to be believed.

Harry gasped, choking, as his eggs went down the wrong way. He coughed and spluttered for a few seconds before weakly replying "the rumours are definitely not to be believed."

"Did you really outfly a dragon, battle mermaids and make it through a dangerous maze in the Triwizard championship?" Timur asked, awe colouring his tone.

Harry looked uncomfortable, scratching the back of his neck. "Well, yeah I guess I did do all that."

"Wow" was said a few times around the table.

"Oh, that's nothing, you wouldn't believe half the things Harry's done, even if I told you." Viktor stated. "Though I must say I'm glad those days are behind him."

Harry gave a small self-deprecating chuckle, "honestly, me to. I never felt safe before, not with my Aunt and Uncle, not with my friends, not even at Hogwarts. This is the first time I have felt safe, that I can remember and that is thanks to all of you." Harry said sincerely, looking around at Viktor and his friends.

Anders reached over and took Harry's hand, slowly rubbing the back in comfort.

Sofia and Alek shared a small smile at just how smitten their son was.

"Hurry up and finish breakfast everyone, the Headmaster has sent a portkey and he is expecting you back in his office within the next hour. It's time to head back to Durmstrang."

Harry smiled at the thought as he finished his eggs and toast.

**The end.**

**I hope you enjoyed it!**


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